What Words Can't Say
by beautiful-surreal
Summary: Crow meets a girl called Mai. They find out that they have a connection that words can't explain. CrowxOC Mai Later chapters rated R for graphic imagery & language
1. Run

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything I didn't create.

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I ran as fast as I could. As far away from _them_ as I could get, even though I could still hear their footsteps pounding behind me, and their ragged breathing. It was nighttime in the City and Satellite, and I was running over the highway towards Satellite, and I knew that if I wasn't careful, I would hear a D-wheeler coming after me. The highway wasn't for runners, after all, and as if on a cue, I could hear one coming up behind me. My eyes flashed as I gritted my teeth. _I can't be caught._ Was the single thought that ran through my mind. I looked over the side of the bridge. I was closer to Satellite than I was to the city by now, and I was over the water, getting closer every second. The Security officer on the D-Wheel put on his sirens and yelled: "Halt!" – and he only got to saying that much before I made up my mind, and vaulted over the side of the bridge and into the ocean far, far below me.

I heard surprised yells and the sound of the D-Wheel stopping as I curled myself into a ball, preparing myself for the impact of the water as the wind whistled by me. Then I hit it, and the surface of the water exploded with a splash, just after I had held my breath.

On the highway, four surprised Security Officers looked over the side of the bridge in astonishment, and then looked at each other in disbelief after witnessing the explosion of the water.

"She jumped." One of them said, and another shrugged.

"These people do crazy things." He said as if it explained itself as he walked back to his D-Wheel and got on. He put his helmet on and looked at the others, who were leaning against the walls, catching their breath. "If you're not back in the City in half an hour, I'll send someone to pick you up." They nodded, and the man sped off. A few moments later, they glanced over the bridge to the water below and shook their heads before heading back to the City at a walk.

Far below them, I was already swimming.


	2. A Real Life

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

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It was nearly dawn by the time I reached the edges of Satellite, and I had hardly any strength left to pull myself up onto the dock, soaking wet, cold, and exhausted- and I let myself rest where I was, lying on my belly. Even though I had those horrible feelings, I felt happy. I had finally gotten away from that horrible organization in the city. I had had no friends there, even though I had tried to help them all as well as myself. I had tried to give them a hope of a life other than the ones they were living, but they were afraid to believe. So I had left, sorry that I couldn't help them, but knowing that I had tried. I hadn't told any of them where I was going, when I left, because in truth, I didn't know. I had only decided to come this way after I had left.

The rising sun's warmth started to heat up my back, and I knew I had to start moving, so I sat up, and checked on my cards. They were concealed in a waterproof container that I hid in the inside pocket of my shabby green, second-hand jacket, and I looked, and saw they were dry. I smiled. The container had been worth its money. I put them away, and looked around.

It was still a little dark, so I could use that to my advantage, and the area around me appeared to be pretty abandoned, but I knew I couldn't take that for granted, but it felt safe at the moment- very still and quiet, and I could just feel the peace that was in the breezes coming from the alleyways. It made me shiver, but I knew it was good. There were three alleyways leaving the place I was, and one road that ran along the way, coming from around a corner I couldn't see behind, and up an incline to a road.

I knew I should go up the middle alley, but- some part of me wanted to look at what I had left behind- so I did. I turned and looked out over the ocean's waters which were glistening in the sunrise, towards the City, beyond which I had been born. In the small part of the country. Where I had had a family. I sighed and looked away, swinging my legs up onto the dock, and walking down the central alleyway. Time to find a real life.


	3. Find Me

**Disclaimer:** I don't own what I didn't create.

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Crow pulled up to the junkyard on his Blackbird and parked it, already scanning the area for pieces Yusei might need to help build his new engines for the WRGP Riding Duel Competition. He had been going at it for awhile now, and showed no signs of stopping. I knew that that was just Yusei, and that Jack and I could only support him while he built new engines for our D-wheels. In fact, his enthusiasm was amazing, and he had us all pumped for the competitions.

I got off my bike and wandered further into the familiar central part of the junkyard where the D-Wheel scrap materials would most likely be. It was a cool evening at the end of summer, and it felt nice to be out in the breezes of early fall. Out of the corner of my eye I saw some potential metal material in the metal heap to my right, and so I turned and started to dig it out. I got it out and grinned, holding it in my hands. This was exactly what he had asked for.

"_Somewhere…"_ A breeze brushed against my ear, and I snapped to attention. What was that? I wasn't alone.

The question and the fact both presented themselves to me at the same time, and I jumped to my feet, instantly on the lookout. I ran over what I had heard again in my mind in a second, and I relaxed slightly. It had been a woman's voice singing, and from the sound of it, she didn't know I was here.

"_- new, that I have never seen before, bring me a chance to live again…" _ The woman was definitely singing, and she was singing beautifully- but something I had never heard before, and it sounded like it was coming straight from her heart.

I followed the sound of her voice, and I was entranced by the sound. It was soft and comforting, but emotional and true at the same time. I felt like this voice- was the essence of the woman who used it, and when I reached the top of the junk pile- I saw her.

She was wearing a shabby green jacket that was very baggy on her, and her hair was a light brown and reached her shoulders. From the way it was brushed by the breeze, it looked quite soft too. She was sitting on the junkyard fence and holding on with both hands as she looked up into the sky, and she was facing away from me.

She was quiet, looking up at the sky, and she looked as if she was thinking. I stood behind her, not knowing what to do, when she sighed and looked down. As I remembered, the ground was pretty far down on that side of the fence, and so I thought I'd let her know that I was there.

"You've got a nice voice." I complimented her. She jumped and whirled around, looking at me with wide blue eyes, swinging her legs over the fence to my side before she had even fully turned around.

"Who-? Ah shit…" she asked, and then her eyes widened in a split second as I watched her begin to topple over the other side of the fence. Before I knew what was happening, I felt an adrenaline rush, I had grabbed her hand, and I had pulled her away from the fence and had her inside my arm a couple feet away from the fence.

I blinked. That had been pretty fast. Then I looked at her, and I swear my heart skipped a beat, as I saw her beautiful eyes looking right back at me.

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**A/N:** Review if you want an early update. "Feedback is a writer's most treasured delight."


	4. Red Hair

**Disclaimer:** I don't own what I didn't create.

_talkstoangels77:_ Thanks for the review, and I'm sorry for the confusion with the switching from third to first person, but when at the keyboard, that was just how it wrote itself while making sure that the change of character was well known. Thanks again.

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He had red hair. He had red hair and three markers on a beautiful face. He had me tucked into his left arm, and he had saved me from falling off of the junkyard fence. His eyes were wide, and he looked surprised. He blinked and looked at me, and he froze. His eyes were steel-gray and he wore a brown-green headband with two metal rings through it. His gaze was intense, and I felt my breath catch in my throat, and I realized how lightly he was holding his arm around my waist and ribcage- and just how strong that arm was. _He's gentle…_ I realized, and just with that one thought, I realized I wanted to know him better.

"U-um…" I blushed. I seemed to trigger a response from the guy, and he whipped his arm out from around me, and he brought it up to the back of his neck and he grinned awkwardly, blushing too.

"Uh…" He looked for something to say, but it looked like he couldn't find it. I looked down and slipped my hands into my skinny jeans before looking carefully back up at him. I shifted my weight onto my left foot, and glanced sharply down at my foot as the junk under it shifted, but it stabilized, so I looked back at him, slightly more relaxed.

"Thanks for saving my neck." Some of my hair fell over my shoulder, and I ignored it, looking at the guy. I watched him relax, his shoulders dropping a bit, and dropping his hand to hook a thumb into his pocket.

"No problem." He said and paused. "Call it an instinct." He shrugged. I nodded.

"An instinct… to save people's lives." I smiled at him, and his eyes looked at my mouth. "What an heroic instinct." I held my hand out for a shake. "My name's Mai, by the way."

He smiled brilliantly and extended his fist. I fisted my hand and tapped his. A handshake was formal around here, I realized. A fist tap was more common.

"Crow." I grinned.

"Nice. So you have a bird deck then?"

"A Black Wing deck, actually. What do you have?"

"An Arts deck. Got a few dragons in there, you know…"

"What's an 'Arts' deck?" He asked, and I blinked. I thought everyone knew.

"Well…" I began, and I got comfortable on an old couch cushion, Crow sitting down next to me, looking curiously at my deck as I brought it out.

"Water-proof container? Nice."

"Thanks."

The sun was setting, and we stayed on that trash heap until it had gotten too dark to see, both of us bringing out our decks and showing each other what we had, and explaining the uses. Then when he realized he was late, he jumped up and told me about his friends, Yusei and Jack, and how he had to get something for a D-Wheel to Yusei. I got up and then we walked to his bike, and he invited me to come with him. I smiled, really smiled so that it lit up my eyes. We were going to a home. His home.

"I'd like that. Thanks Crow." He smiled at me from under his helmet.

"Don't mention it. Here ya go." He popped his seat up and gave me a spare helmet. I looked at it, trying to figure out how it worked while he put the seat back down, and I tried to push it onto my head, which I managed to do, but not without managing to push all my hair into my face in the process.

"Pfft." I took the helmet back off and blew some hair out of my mouth before shaking my head and throwing my hair behind me again. Then I saw Crow grinning at me, laughter in his eyes. I rolled my eyes with a grin, holding the helmet up. "Yeah, never worn one before." I confessed light-heartedly. Crow grinned and took the helmet from me, popping a catch so that the visor slid up.

"Here ya go then." He said, pushing it onto my head for me, and sliding the visor down. This time my hair stayed out of my face. I smiled at him.

"Thanks." He smiled at me and got on his D-Wheel, then looked at me.

"Know how to get on?"

"Yup." I replied, straddling the machine behind him smoothly, loosely wrapping my arms around his waist and settling in comfortably, deciding that when he leaned forward to drive that I'd lean with him.

"You ready?" He asked. I nodded, even though he couldn't see me.

"When you are." He nodded, and I tucked my legs up as he kicked off, and we were going, scrap material broken into quarters and tucked into the seat under us.

I smiled into his back, and I wasn't exactly sure when I fell asleep, but the last few things I remembered was speed, wind, and his hand holding onto mine.

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**A/N:** Review for early updates.


	5. Still Alive

**Disclaimer: **I don't own what I didn't create.

_Artsygirl613:_ Thanks for the review.

**_A/N:_ Originally, this chapter was going to be up to the three stars. Then when I looked at it on , I saw that it was even more pathetically short than the others before it, so I decided to give you all a long one this time. Please, _please_ review**. After all, feedback is a writer's most treasured desire.

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When I pulled up in front of the house, I stopped for a while and cut the engine. I wasn't too sure why, but feeling Mai sleeping against my back felt… right. She was a friend to me, but somehow… I sighed and started the engine again silently so that I wouldn't wake anyone, and I hit the button to open the garage, and gently braked down the slope. It was dark inside; as I had expected, and a soft, motion-sensitive night light came on to illuminate the room gently. I drove to the corner by Yusei and Jack's covered D-wheels and parked it. I sat there for a couple seconds, thinking- and I raised the arm of my Blackbird.

I dismounted by carefully holding onto Mai and turning towards her as I withdrew my leg from the other side. I placed my hand just under her neck to hold her up, while I took care not push Blackbird over, and then I leaned her against my chest so that I could take off her helmet, and then I took off mine, hanging them both off the handle bars. I felt pretty tired too, when I pulled Mai off the bike and into my arms, holding her up against my shoulder. She was pretty light, and her arm just fell limply out of her lap when I picked her legs up. I all but trudged up the stairs then, and I put her on my bed on top of the covers, making sure that her head was on the pillow, and then I took her shoes off and left them beside the bed.

I then left the room and lay on the couch just outside it, and instantly fell asleep. I didn't dream. I just heard her wordless voice singing.

***

When I woke up, the first thing I realized was that I wasn't where I had fallen asleep. I froze in my shifting, and I tested the atmosphere. I was in a boys' place. At least it felt like boys, three of them I didn't know at least- and upon feeling that, my heart jumped into my throat.

Wait. Something was familiar. That kind of almost rustic, fiery, strong energy. Was that- Crow? I opened one eye, and seeing no one in the room, I relaxed a little and sat up in the bed. I noticed that I still had my clothes on, which made me sigh with relief, but I wiggled my toes and saw my shoes down by the side of the bed. _ So he took my shoes off…_ I thought. _ Kind of nice of him, I guess…_

The room was very Spartanly furnished, with just the bed, a bedside table, a chair sitting next to the window and a whole lot of dust on the floor. I was tempted to wrinkle my nose at the sight, but I had seen much worse. Apart from the dust, the room was actually pretty clean, like it wasn't used very much. I swung my legs over the side and put my shoes on, and then made the bed before I turned around and left- thinking that I should probably sweep in here sometime.

I went through the door- and slowly started to smile. Crow was snoring on a couch. I wondered how he didn't wake anyone up with the noise he made. It was late morning, if the light coming through the window was any indication, and I thought I'd let him sleep. I wanted to look around.

The couch was on a landing that was open to a garage where I could see Crow's D-wheel parked next to two other shrouded bikes. I couldn't tell exactly what they were, but I could tell from the general shape of them what they were. I lightly trailed my hand along the thin, black railing of the stairs as I walked down- taking everything in.

It's kinda pretty here…

"Wake up Crow, Jack. He's late." I jumped, startled like a cat that's been barked at, and I dropped to a crouch and pressed my back against the wall next to me- thanks to a safety instinct I had ingrained in me. My heart was racing. I **did not** expect anyone to be down there with the bikes, and I swallowed, trying to calm myself down before I found out who the voice belonged to. I had only the slightest idea of who 'Jack' was, but my reaction was only so severe because it was an unexpected **man's** voice, even though the voice itself sounded very gentle and calm.

I forced myself to stand up straight, and I swallowed to get my voice back before I looked for the source of the voice. I looked over the other side of the stairs, and I saw a guy half-kneeling there, concentrating on a laptop next to a rigged frame holding up a D-wheel motor. I couldn't see his face since he was facing away from me, but he wore a blue pea coat jacket and jeans, and his hair was very spiky and black with blonde highlights. I opened my mouth to speak, but I felt my voice catch, so I closed it and just simply nodded at his back, backing up the stairs.

I bumped into a tall chest, and instantly after that, I felt a large pair of hands grab onto my shoulders. **Adrenaline rush**. My eyes widened, and I squeaked- and I was certain that my face had paled with instinctive fear. Not completely in control of myself, I wrenched myself out of his hands and bolted up the stairs back to where Crow was still sleeping loudly. I was shivering alright, and I forgot to wake Crow up, because I heard the man that had grabbed me say: 'What the-' –and turn around to come after me. Faced with the door, and knowing he was right behind me, I turned around and faced him.

The guy was tall and blonde, rubbing his eye, looking very tired and yawning, looking at me. I quickly evaluated him and classed him as a non-threat, so I relaxed only slightly. Just because a man looks tired doesn't mean a thing. I then heard the person I had heard before move around downstairs.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?" The man in front of me responded, turning his head slightly while still looking at me curiously. So this was the guy that the guy downstairs had thought I was. There was a small pause.

"What's going on up there?" The guy from earlier started to climb the stairs, if the footsteps I heard getting closer were any indication.

"There's a girl up here who looks pretty scared of me." He stated simply, and I noticed for a second time that his voice was in the bass notes, while the other voice was slightly higher- but still a man's. I didn't trust this guy's face right away, and I raised my chin a little defiantly when he called me a 'girl'. "Don't know how she got here."

"Do you think Crow brought her in?" The man from earlier rounded the corner, and even though I liked his face right away, the phrase: 'brought her in' scared me. It was something they said a lot in the 'organization'. I felt conflicted now, though. They had said Crow's name like he was a close friend, and I felt like the situation I was in was slightly familiar.

"I dunno." 'Jack' said, shrugging his right shoulder slightly.

_Crow…and Jack._ I thought, and I glanced at the other guy. He was much shorter than Jack, but he had the kind of face I trusted right away, no matter how dangerous the situation could've been. He was looking at me openly, and I shifted nervously, and then looked down. _Talk about intense…_ I muttered to myself in my head. _He should be Yusei, if what Crow told me is any indication._ I glanced at the person in question, who had stopped snoring for a few minutes, and I felt like he was starting to wake up. I glanced back at the smaller guy before looking down again, but this time I didn't actually drop my gaze to look away. I was tuning in.

Crow was definitely waking up, 'Jack' was in a sort of a sleepwalking daze, and the other guy…._Yusei…_ I was feeling waves of… power, almost- radiating from him like he was the sun. _There's something I need to know about this guy…_ I looked up slowly, like I was raising my head through sludge, and I looked at him. He felt slightly surprised, but I felt something like recognition from him, and I stepped forward, raising my hand towards him, and I stopped.

I stood there waiting, and I watched as I saw his colors of yellow, purple, green and a bit of blue swirl around him like a more solid form of smoke. I could tell he was deliberating, and I was focusing primarily on him, while I felt in the back of my mind that Crow had woken up and was yawning and rubbing his eyes while Jack was gaping at me in absolute shock. Yusei's silhouette was faded grey to me, like smoke, like there was something he hid from the population at large that I needed to know.

I could tell when he made his decision, because he became a lot clearer to see, and he stepped forward and took my hand.

I gasped. Millions of images sped through my mind, each laden with information about Yusei. His history, his personality, his possible futures- his latent talents and abilities. Everything there was to know about Yusei, I saw. I felt like my body was being electrocuted, but without the pain and suddenly- it all stopped. I closed my eyes and opened them again and gasped. My hand sprung open and I looked at Yusei in wonder. He looked slightly dazed.

I felt my legs shaking, and I collapsed, but I felt Crow catch me from behind, and I felt him lift me up and he sat me on the bench. I felt like I had run a mile in a second, and my body was reacting as if I had. Crow looked up at me in concern as I tried to catch my breath.

"Are you ok Mai?" He asked me, and I looked at him, unable to answer, shocked confusion in my eyes. "I just woke up and there you were, gripping Yusei's hand like a lifeline and he was doing the same thing." I looked up at Yusei when Crow mentioned his name. He was staring at the ground in shock, and even without tuning in, I knew he was thinking very fast and trying to figure everything out. In a way, I felt sorry for him. I knew every little detail there was to know about him, and he was still trying to figure out what just happened.

"Y-Yusei…" I breathed. I was actually in awe of him. He was so strong to have gone through- and lived through- what he had. He blinked and looked at me. I almost wanted to lower my gaze in a way, because his gaze was so intense, but I couldn't. I was transfixed. I felt Crow shift uneasily at my knee. He had probably never seen anyone match Yusei's stare. At the moment, I didn't really care. I had to let Yusei know something that I knew was true with every fiber of my being. Everyone was looking at me. I swallowed. This would be quite a lot to register.

"Your mom is still alive."

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**_A/N:_ Dun, dun, duuuunn.... (couldn't resist _;-) _)**


	6. Older Brothers

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**_A/N:_ **So sorry I didn't post last night. My internet connection had a hiccup.

So I was originally going to post this in two chapters, but due to the way it flows, I couldn't do it. So you have a nice long long chapter once again. Enjoy. and remember to review if you want an early update.

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It was a couple weeks later, and I was still hanging around with the guys. I was surprised that they had kept me for so long. I shivered at the way of thinking I had gotten into. It had slowly been ingrained into me by the _organization_, which I absolutely despised.

Crow and I were as close as ever, and he had taken me around to meet the little orphans he had adopted into his life when he was younger. Because of the link they had with Crow, I felt connected to them instantly. I smiled when I remembered their first reaction to me.

*~**~**~**~**~**~*

"Big Bro Crow! Big Bro Crow!" A chorus of little voices greeted us from inside the clearing where the little ones lived when Crow rounded the corner on his D-wheel with me sitting right behind him wearing the helmet I had gotten on by myself this time, and I stilled. It sounded as if there were at least four little people in there, and when Crow rounded the corner, I saw I was wrong. There were at least six.

All the little children stopped running around, and froze to look at me when they noticed there was another person on Crow's D-wheel.

"Big bro…?" A small girl asked curiously, yet in a somewhat cautious way. Crow parked the bike, standing up and lifting it slightly to get a good purchase on this ground. So far, he was silent.

"Is that a girl?" a little boy asked. The other little boy who was standing next to him who had been looking at me curiously as well turned and punched him in the arm. "Ow!"

"That's not a girl, Alex!" The boy told him off. "She's a woman- she's got tits!"

I was thankful I was still wearing my helmet as I blushed, and let my head fall lightly against Crow's back in embarrassment. Crow had taken his helmet off by now, and he was looking at the boys in surprise as he heard that exchange of words. When he felt my head tap against his back, he closed his mouth.

"Alex, Hikura." The two boys cringed at the tone of Crow's voice, but they looked at him apprehensively. Crow looked at them for a few moments, and then sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. I smiled through my helmet as I watched him do so. It was such a cute habit. "-watch what you say around women, ok?" The two boys' faces brightened when they figured they weren't in trouble, and they grinned- looking absolutely adorable.

"Ok, big bro Crow!" They squeaked in their happy, tiny voices, and they ran off to play catch.

Crow dismounted and started talking with the kids when I took my helmet off, and I shook my hair out. Suddenly I noticed there was a lack of noise, and I looked around. All the kids were gaping at me in awe. I felt a blush coming on, and I looked at Crow, who looked at me with a puzzled look, and then I heard the little girl from before whisper.

"She's so pretty…" I blushed and looked down biting my lip so that my hair swung down to cover my face.

"Is she your girlfriend Crow?" I heard one of the little boys ask, and I looked up. This would be funny. Crow jumped up and his hand jumped to the back of his neck as he laughed awkwardly and blushed.

"Uh…. No she isn't my girlfriend, but um…" He muttered, looking for words. I smiled at him. He was so cute. I felt I little hand pat my knee, and I looked down. I smiled. The little boy Alex was looking up at me with big blue eyes and a hopeful face.

"Will you be my girlfriend?" He asked, and I couldn't help but grin at him, he was so cute. He reached up to me, so I reached down and picked him up as I got off the bike and I sat him on my hip, leaning the other way so that he had a bit more hip to sit on, holding him on with one arm and a hand. I smiled at him.

"What's your name?" I asked him even though I knew. He smiled shyly at me.

"Alex." He was so adorable.

"Well Alex," I started, and he looked at me hopefully. "-I'm too old to be your girlfriend, but I can be your big sister if you want?" I asked him. Alex's face fell and then he looked thoughtful as I spoke to him. "What do you think?" I asked him. He didn't answer for a second or two, but then his face lit up.

"OK!" He squeaked. "You'll be my big sister-" Alex squeaked, and then paused and looked at me curiously. "What's your name?" I couldn't help but laugh. He was so adorable!

"Mai." I said. Alex grinned and started bouncing again, but I had a good hold on him, so he didn't fall.

"You'll be my big sister Mai!" he squirmed, and so I put him down, and he ran to the other kids and got them to join him, and they danced around me chanting and singing:

"Big sister Mai! Big sister Mai!"

I laughed, watching them all singing and dancing around me, and I looked up at Crow. He was looking at the kids and me and laughing too.

*~**~**~**~**~**~*

I smiled at the memory. Those kids were so adorable, and they had adopted me as a big sister right away. They were all so happy. All the time. I didn't know how they did it. I sighed and looked back at the sky, leaning against the junkyard fence. I just needed some time to think, and so I came here. Crow wasn't too far away, looking for some more parts.

When I had told Yusei that his mother was still alive, I couldn't tell what he felt, because he didn't really react. His eyes had only widened a little, but other than that, he was as frozen as a statue. Jack had reacted though, and he now had a bruise on his stomach to show for it. He had responded rather violently, in what I'm sure was a protective impulse for his friend, but he had advanced on me with his fists up, and so that had triggered my protective instinct, and I had snap-kicked him before I was fully aware of what I was doing. He was on the floor in seconds, and I then felt really guilty. It took a lot of talking from Crow to get me to stay then.

So I was confused. Confused as to where that left me, confused as to if anyone other than Crow's kids needed me around. I sighed.

"_Find a place for me,_

_A place where I belong,_

_A place where I am needed,_

_And a shoulder I can cry on…" _I sang quietly, straight from my heart. In my subconscious, I heard something moving beyond the trash heap to my left, but I didn't really care at the moment. I looked back up at the sky sadly, as if I could find answers there, watching the clouds shift and change shape. I took in a deep breath and sang louder.

_"When the world got tough,_

_I moved on,_

_When I saw there was no hope,_

_I moved on,_

_Once I was lost,_

_But I made myself found,_

_But when he didn't care,_

_I found myself fighting…" _Sadness was starting to push itself at my heart, and it was starting to catch in my throat, making my voice waver, and my eyes burn and water. I swallowed, and went on. These memories were painful, but- I had to work through them somehow.

"_My brother,_

_Didn't want me,_

_So he left me,_

_Behind." _ My voice broke, and I felt a tear slip out of my eye, and that one was followed by others, and I found myself hugging myself as I looked into the sky. Still, I couldn't stop singing. It was how I expressed my emotions. I took a deep breath, and tried to make myself stronger, so I could sing.

"_I followed him,_

_Tried to make him see,_

_That who he used to be,_

_Was still there,_

_Somewhere…" _ My sense of a tune was pretty much gone now, and I let myself slide down the fence so that I could sit on the ground, and I looked up into the darkening sky. I heard slow, careful footsteps walking over the junk towards me, and as I looked up, they stopped.

There was Crow, and he was looking at me with that look in his eyes that showed me that he felt a familiar pain, that he could relate to what I had been singing. I saw him standing there, and I felt my heart yearn for him. I knew I was still crying, but I didn't care. I needed him. In my mind's eye, I saw another taller man standing next to him, and I felt a smaller me inside, begging the man for comfort. He had the same color hair as Crow, and he had looked at me like I was gum on the bottom of his shoe. He was a memory.

When I reached out for Crow, the younger me inside me reached out for the man, and the man looked at her in pitying disgust and turned around and left, just the same time as the more real Crow came over to me, sat next to me, and held me in his arms, letting me cry on his shoulder just as my brother hadn't done back then, leaving the younger me to cry his name in vain.

Crow was all I had.


	7. Question of the Hour

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**_A/N:_ Hello people. Thanks for the reviews. This chapter is a little shortie from Yusei's point of view, thinking about his mother. Remember to review for an early update, even though it's more likely to be updated tomorrow at this rate. I will update once a day otherwise.**

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Yusei sat in his room, on the edge of his bed with his hands clasped and his head down, looking at the floor. He was thinking about what that Mai girl had said, and what she did before she even knew his name.

Her eyes had been blue, but when she had looked up at him… Yusei sighed with frustration and ran his hand through his hair, looking up- out through the window looking onto the street. Her eyes were green. Ever since he had found out just a little bit about his parents, he had never thought about his mom. Looking back on it, he now felt kind of guilty. He had only ever thought about his father before. He sighed and let himself slump back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling.

His mother…

It made him think. If his mother was really still alive, he wasn't an orphan.

He didn't know how he felt about that. All his life, he had been an orphan, without parents besides Martha, his foster mom. He had accepted it as a way of life, and now… he felt like he had to be a different person. Like he had to be different… to have a living biological mother. Yusei sat up and put his head in his hands again.

He was 19 years old. He had never known either his mother or his father. To have one of them back in his life… he didn't even know his mother, but did being afraid of having her back in his life after 19 years of not knowing she existed… did it make him a bad person? Yusei shook his head.

No… being afraid of the unknown didn't make him a bad person. He felt that in his heart. It was just… a hard concept to grasp. He believed Mai. When he took her hand, her eyes had the same look that Ruka's had when she was looking into the spirit world, and Ruka had always been right, even if she and Rua- her twin brother- were only eight.

He could just feel it in his heart that it was true. Yusei looked up through the window.

So… what did it mean?


	8. I'll Protect You

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**_A/N:_ Sorry about the length, hope it explains some of Mai's past, Read & Review.**

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Crow sat there, holding Mai in his lap and in his arms as she cried into his shoulder. He up looked into the dark sky with a grim face, thinking about the words that she had sung that had led her to crying like this. She was worried about her place, and more importantly- if he could guess at it- she was scared of not being wanted. Or loved, on a greater scale. He guessed it had something to do with Jack's reaction after she had told Yusei that his mom was still alive.

Mai had been abandoned. By her _brother_- and she must've been much younger, judging by the way she sang about it- and the thought made his blood boil. When he was just a kid, he had been alone, and nobody had looked after him until Duel Monsters had brought him friends who had taught him how to read and write and how to do a little math. But Mai had had someone she had loved and trusted to take care of her. She had had a big brother to count on. And he had fucking _abandoned_ her! Crow impulsively held Mai a little closer to him and a little tighter without realizing, and he was glaring into the darkness as he thought. He couldn't believe that someone could actually be cold-hearted enough to abandon their little sister. He could only imagine how she had felt. Crow's silent snarl gradually faded back into sadness, and he looked at Mai who seemed to have cried herself out, and was now half-asleep against his shoulder. He half propped one of his knees up to help hold her on his lap, and he looked at her tear-streaked face, and wiped some of them away with his thumb.

_I'll never abandon you, Mai._ He thought as he looked at her. An emotion in his heart stirred and awoke. A strong one, and a faint red glow started to surround him and Mai where they sat from the birthmark on his right forearm. _I'll look after you. I promise._ A look of determination filled his eyes and face when he made that promise, and he vowed to keep it- for as long as she needed him- and the vow was solid. Sealed with the power of his friends bonds- sealed with the power of the Red Dragon.

He would be there as long as she needed him.


	9. Flashbacks

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**_A/N: _Thanks for the reviews!**

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I dreamed. I dreamt that I was floating in pitch blackness, and there was no desire to move. No desire to even think, but thinking happened anyways. It was beyond my control, and the darkness ran through my life from the beginning of my memory to the present date. I saw flashes of my life pass before my eyes, and after the first run, I hardly paid any attention, but still, flashes burned into my memory and made themselves known.

A happy little girl four years old, running around the yard on a bright summer's day with her older, red-headed brother, both of them laughing, their parents embracing in the doorway of the house, smiling as they watched them play.

A little girl six years old on her birthday, her red-headed brother older by two years, giving her the teddy bear she had seen in the toy store window and had wanted ever since. Both of them laughing, and their parents maintaining control of the many balloons in the small room around the birthday cake and lit candles being brought in by the babysitter.

A little girl eight years old, clinging to her red-headed, older brother's hand in terror as they watched from school as their home blew up, their parents both still inside, sleeping. Her older brother mute, watching the fire with wide, afraid eyes.

A young girl 10 years old staying at the babysitter's with her red-headed brother, only starting to notice the long nights he spent 'out' with his 'friends' in the City.

An adolescent girl 11 years old fighting with her red-headed older brother with dark bags under his eyes in a junkyard on the way back from school. Her red-headed older brother yelling at her, and slapping her across the face. The brown-haired girl staring at her brother in shock and pain as she held her face and sank to the ground, her eyes tearing as her brother told her she was nothing to him, and left her there. The girl with brown hair and blue eyes crying alone in the junkyard for her brother, until security officers found her lying there, half-dead with cold and tears.

A young woman 15 years old going to a mysterious 'Organization' for information about her missing older brother's whereabouts, trying to find him again after four years of not knowing. Half a year later, seeing a picture and a profile on her brother, looking haggard and ragged, with a hopeless in his eyes, with ugly brown markers on his face, marking him as a criminal drug-dealer and hustler. A feeling of despair that it had gotten that far. A day later, forcefully being taken to the organization as a payment she couldn't pay for the information she had gained.

A 'woman' barely 16, being used, drugs forced into her system, and a blurred sense of time.

A woman, 17 years old, desire, need and the willpower to escape outwitting those who sought to use her time and again. A woman, with a strong flame of hope burning in her heart, trying to give the others hope as well, but to no avail. One night, climbing through a window several stories high, jumping onto the next building's roof, and running for her life. Only half an hour later, running from Security and jumping off the Daedalus Bridge.

Replay.

Six. The babysitter.

Eight. The babysitter.

Ten. The babysitter.

Eleven. The nurse calling out "Mrs. Fudo", and the babysitter rushing into the hospital room with tears in her eyes.

The babysitter. Her old hometown. Mrs. Fudo. Yusei Fudo.

Mrs. Fudo showing a girl seven years old a picture of herself with her husband, Mr. Fudo, and their lost baby son, Yusei. Mrs. Fudo said that her husband died in a disaster at the lab he worked at, but an escape pod from the lab was missing, along with their son. Mrs. Fudo was Yusei's mom.

In the darkness I gasped and went rigid with the realization. Yusei's mom had been my babysitter!

*~**~**~*

I jolted awake with a gasp and before I even knew where I was, I gasped:

"Mrs. Fudo was my babysitter! My babysitter was Yusei's mom!"

My surroundings started to make themselves clear to me. I was leaning against Crow's chest, in his arms on the garage floor of his home. Kneeling in front of me and looking at me with intense, surprised blue eyes was Yusei, and behind him stood Jack, arrogant and tall, with his arms crossed over his chest and glaring at me hostilely. It was dark outside and the work lights were on, and it looked like Crow had pulled in on his D-wheel just moments before I woke up. His strong, bare arms were securely but loosely holding me to him, and the thing was- I trusted him completely.

***

You could see the stars from Martha's roof, in the countryside outside of Satellite. It was a really nice place to lie out and look up at the stars you couldn't see anywhere else. That's where I was now, lying out with my arms behind my head and thinking about Mai, and how the kids had accepted her so readily into their lives. She had cast herself as their big sister, but really- the kids were treating her more like the mother they never had, and the thought made my breath catch and my chest tingle with a feeling a bit like hope- thinking about what it could mean.

I had cast myself as the kids' older brother when I found them all one-by-one and brought them back to my place where they could be safe. To think that they would think of me as a father figure… and of Mai as a mother figure. That would make us parents… together.

Admitting to the thought sent thrills of an electric-like excitement through my body, and even in the darkness- in the light of the stars, my eyes shone with the hope, but then a part of me put a damper on that hope. _We would be good as friends…_ I sighed. That was true. I've seen it happen before, where a guy makes a move on a girl he had been friends with for a long time before that- and then she doesn't want to have anything to do with him anymore. I didn't want to run that risk of being rejected. I would rather Mai was in my life rather than not. I felt that she hadn't changed much about me, as I had heard of girls doing to some guys when they fell in love with them, but… it was like she had filled a hole in my life that I had never noticed before. So now that I knew her, looking back on before- I felt as if my life had been emptier then- as if I had been waiting for her to come and fill in the empty places.

I sighed and sat up, resting my arms on my knees as I shook my head and looked out over the trees towards Satellite. Who was I kidding? I had never had a girl in my life, and I had never desired one. I sighed. But _now…_ there was this part of me- that wondered what that kind of love felt like.


	10. See My Soul

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything I didn't create.

**_A/N:_ Hey guys, I wanted to post something for you guys because now the story is once again moving along excellently. Remember to review for early update!**

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I was sitting impatiently in the corner of the garage, watching Yusei work and tapping my foot in mid-air since it was the one crossed over my other leg. I had not heard Yusei speak since I had the dream about his mom being my old babysitter, and his lack of self-motivation to find her was really getting on my nerves. If I had found out that my mother was still (impossibly) alive, I would have been doing everything I could to find her. As I thought of my mother, I felt the familiar wrench at my heart of grief, and my heart leapt up into my throat, almost as if it was trying to escape the terrible emotion. I held my breath, waiting for it to pass, and I ceased all motion for the moment as my eyes threatened to water. I had no mother or father, and here Yusei was- doing nothing to find his own.

"Yusei!" I looked up at the door as a young boy-child with green hair bounded through it excitedly, pulling along a girl who could only ever be his twin sister, because she looked exactly like him. I swallowed down my emotions painfully and smiled a watery smile as Yusei looked up with a true one.

"Rua, Ruka." He greeted as the boy let go of his sister's hand, jumped down the stairs and began to excitedly pelt him with questions. But the girl, she stood silently at the top of the stairs and she looked at me, and we locked eyes. I felt the draw almost instantly, as everything around me started to fade away, and I found myself sitting on my knees in the middle of the floor with the young girl standing in front of me. She smiled at me.

"My name is Ruka." She spoke, and her voice echoed strangely, even though her voice was so soft. I managed to smile a little at her; even though- for the first time in my life- I was afraid of what the girl would see about me.

"I am Mai." I said, and I saw a happy light in Ruka's eyes as she reached for my shoulders and rested her forehead against mine.

I saw her life in passing, a quiet life without parents in the topmost floor of Tops, with only her brother and the occasional friend coming over to keep them company. I saw how it was when their parents came home, and for a moment, I was jealous, but I made that feeling die. I saw that she had a long, happy life ahead of her with her brother, the two of them eventually getting married and living without each other, but only a floor away from each other, since they would never be able to bear being too far away from each other. Her ability was to see into and enter the world of Duel Monster Spirits, and her brother's was to bring her back. So each twin was half a Signer, and Ruka bore the mark.

Then it was my turn to be seen.

I didn't want her to see into my soul, for she was very young and innocent, and what she would see in my past would leave a scar on her that would be there forever. Then it was over, and I felt Ruka pushing away from me, and I opened my eyes to see her looking at me with a look that had distraught, fear and disgust all in one. Though I could feel that those emotions weren't directed at me. I could see the tears start up in her eyes, and I held both her hands in one of mine and raised a hand to gently wipe away the coming tears. Ruka was shaking.

"How- how could they _do_ that to you?!" She exclaimed, tears starting to spill over, and I understood. She had seen everything, and I pushed myself up to kneeling, and I held her in my arms as she cried, rubbing her back as my mother had used to do with me when I had been upset.

"You saw my past, didn't you?" I whispered sadly into her ear, and she nodded, unable to speak. I then saw her brother walking carefully towards us, with worry in his eyes. When he saw me looking at him, he asked me silently if he could, and I nodded, so he ran over and hugged us both to give his sister the comfort she needed. I smiled sadly. If only my brother had been like that.

I heard heavier footsteps walking toward us, and I looked up as Yusei walked over and kneeled across from me. His eyes weren't so intense now, just- wanting to know.

"What did she see?" He asked me quietly, almost emotionlessly. I looked at him sadly.

"What a girl her age should never have to see." I told him, and his eyes darkened with concern, and some other emotion I couldn't identify, before he nodded and stood up, returning to his bike. I looked after him for a moment, but then I just focused on comforting the little girl in my arms, who needed me more than Yusei did.

***

When I returned to the engine, I didn't work on it, because I was thinking too intensely to focus on the machine. _'What a girl her age should never have to see…'_ I had seen Ruka and Mai do the same thing to each other as I had felt Mai do to me, and then I saw Ruka burst into tears after seeing what could only have been Mai's past or future, or something of that nature. _'What a girl her age should never have to see…'_ In a way, I could believe it, but it was unimaginable to me. I thought that I had had a hard life, but my gut feelings were telling me that what Ruka had seen had been much worse than what I had been through, if not exactly the same on some levels. I just never thought that a woman would have to go through those same pains. I blinked and stared at the same part of the engine as I tried to dissect what she said and what it meant.

I thought back to how the two of us had first met, when she told me that my mom was still alive. I hadn't known that she was there, and when Jack had surprised her by grabbing onto her when she backed up into him, she had been ready to fight. I frowned. She had only reacted that way because Jack had grabbed her, and it had probably triggered an automatic response from her instincts because she had reacted like that. I tried to think of other times when she reacted like that, but I could only think of times when she was around strange guys she didn't know. Boys she was alright with, I noticed as I looked at her over my shoulder again, watching her cuddle both Ruka and Rua. So she had something against men, and looking back on how she had been ready to fight that one time- it wasn't good.


	11. Psychics & Signers

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

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Crow was out working when he felt the slight sting on his arm. It wasn't much, but it was enough to pull his attention to the birthmark on his right arm. He stopped his D-wheel on the side of the road halfway to his next stop and pulled down the glove that covered it. It wasn't glowing as much as he had seen it do on Yusei's arm before, but he could feel something though it. He closed his eyes for a moment and focused, holding his right forearm with his left hand.

_Ruka…_ the mark seemed to whisper to him as he tried to figure out where the sensation was coming from. _Mai…_ Crow opened his eyes and looked ahead distantly. So Mai and Ruka were interacting somehow, and he got the feeling that she was 'reading' Ruka like she had done with Yusei her first night at their place. A cool breeze came up from behind Crow, and suddenly a sharp pain flashed through his birthmark, making him clench his teeth with the pain- but it was gone as soon as it had come. Crow looked at it hesitantly, slightly worried about what he would see, and it was softly glowing a sad blue before it faded back to the normal color of a birthmark on his skin. Somehow, he knew that the pain and sadness had come from Mai- even though he knew that she couldn't be Signer, because there were already five of them- and he worried about her. The pain he felt must've come from a memory of hers- he knew this in his heart somehow, and he didn't ask the reason why- but the pain had quickly faded away, truly indicating that was indeed a memory in the past.

Crow was sad he couldn't be with her, and he wanted to be with her right now, but he had a job he needed to do before he could do that. Crow gazed sadly at his birthmark before pushing the glove back up and kicking the D-wheel back into action, heading for his last few stops before he could go home. He knew that she'd be alright now that the pain was gone, but he still felt the sadness in his heart that he couldn't be there for her.

Mai…

In their various places around the town, none of the other Signers felt the sting of the birthmark that Crow had felt, and so no one knew. Crow and Mai had a direct line to each other through the powers they both had. The reason why they had that line that connected each other was simple, deep and mutual.

Love.

***

Ruka had seen everything. She saw how much Mai had loved her brother, and how hurt and betrayed she felt when he abandoned her. She saw Mai's old babysitter, Yusei's mom, and she had seen everything that _they_ had done to Mai and the other women forced into the _organization._ She saw…the horrors that nobody in the outside world knew about besides Mai and now herself. She saw how miraculously Mai had managed to escape, and how she had tried to lit a flame of hope in the other women's hearts in vain before leaving. She saw the jump of faith that Mai had made over the side of the bridge, and had almost felt the impact of the water as Mai crashed into it as well.

She also knew that Mai was in love. She could feel that Mai hadn't fully realized the full extent of that love just yet, but that she had fallen for him completely. Ruka realized that the love between Mai and Crow held far more power than a normal relationship did, for instinct told her that when a Signer like Crow, and a powerful psychic like Mai got together… and the strength of their love… what they could do together… it just blew her mind.

Ruka had stopped crying by now, and quietly held onto Mai's shoulder as she thought, and a thought hit her that made her eyes open wide. If a Signer and a powerful psychic together unifying their powers with love had that much strength… what would two couples be able to do? Ruka felt faint with the possibility, and leaned into Mai for support. Then another possibility came to her mind. What if they had kids? Ruka could only think of two possibilities. The kid could be a psychic Signer that could be able to beat two maybe three Dark Signer leaders without breaking a sweat, or- the kid could be completely normal. Ruka hoped that for their sake that they would be.

Rua turned to look at his sister and saw an intense thoughtful look on her face, and he laughed, surprised. Ruka was jolted out her thoughts and looked at him curiously, tilting her head to one side in a silent question. Rua just laughed.

"I've never seen you think that hard your life! Don't give yourself brain damage." He laughed, and Ruka frowned at him before letting a corner of her mouth turn up. Don't give herself brain damage? He should talk.

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**A/N:** Review. Please. Reviews are my water and I'm dying of thirst here.


	12. Cat & Mouse

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N: **This chapter is rated M for graphic content and language. We have a bit more action in this chapter.

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The sun was shining brightly on this warm autumn day when Crow came up behind me in the kitchen and leaned against the counter where I was writing a new song on a piece of paper, called: "Because of You". I wasn't letting anyone see it until I had it finished, and I was stashing it away in the room they had given me to stay in while I was with them. It was something that really mattered to me, that they didn't see it until it was ready. I had been here around a month now, and the boys had pretty much accepted me as a part of their lives now. Even Jack who didn't like me at first because I had snap-kicked him because he had scared me when we first met. And for the first time since I was eight years old, I was truly happy to be alive.

Since I first met Crow, I had gradually become aware of his feelings for me, and at first, I was scared. I was scared of something I didn't know how to deal with, but I realized eventually that even if Crow did have these feelings for me, he would _never_ hurt me. He would never hurt me or let any other man hurt me as long as he had any say about it. I appreciated the thought, but I didn't know how long it would last.

"Hey Mai." He said gently, looking softly over my shoulder with tiredness in his eyes, because he had been working hard lately. I looked at him and made eye contact, and we smiled at each other almost shyly. "Aki, Yusei, Carly and Jack are going downtown for a double date today." I slightly curled my right big toe nervously inside my old shoes, not letting any tension show on my face. "I was wondering if you'd like to hang out on the mall today, and I could get you some new clothes and stuff. Everything you've got has gotten kinda old." He said almost apologetically, and I smiled. It wasn't his fault my clothes were wearing thin. Rather, it was mine, for I had been afraid to get a job here, for fear of being recognized around the town- but it had been a month since I had escaped the _Organization_… hopefully they had taken me as dead long before now. With those quick thoughts, I realized that I should be safe now, and even safer with Crow around. I smiled at Crow and nodded, watching somewhat happily as I saw his face start to light up.

"Sure." I agreed. "You'll stay with me, right?" I asked him, and he smiled at me.

"Of course I will."

~*~ *~* ~*~

Crow and I drove into town on his D-wheel, the Blackbird- and we parked in one of the spaces right outside the mall, so I got off while he was parking and looked around. It was a typical busy day at the mall, with people everywhere, music playing from the store fronts and dozens of dozens people talking and moving together in variously sized groups, and the sun was shining, so everyone wanted a reason to be out. Crow touched my elbow to get my attention, and I took my helmet off and gave it to him when he motioned for it, and he put it away in the seat of the Blackbird along with his before turning and showing me where the clothes and shoes stores were that we could see from here. I nodded, and we walked down the middle, looking in most of the windows and the signs stating what they were.

I didn't want to buy anything yet, and Crow was just fine with looking around with me before we actually headed into any stores. We were just talking about whether he should buy me converse or normal sneakers to replace my old shoes when something in a toy store window caught my eye as we walked by, and I stopped on an impulse and turned to get a better look at it. I caught my breath as I recognized it sitting cheerfully in the window. It was exactly the same as the teddy bear my brother had gotten me for my sixth birthday, so long ago…

I was tempted to fall into a full-on flashback as I lightly rested my fingertips against the glass, looking at the goodly-sized soft, brown bear with the tan paws, curly brown fur and soulful brown, plastic eyes with the red silk bow 'round it's neck- but I didn't. I just remembered sadly that that birthday was probably the last happy time my brother and I had had together when we were young- rather, the last truly happy time we had had together at all. I sighed.

"Mai?" Crow asked softly, gently touching my elbow. "Are you alright?" I looked over at him looking at me worriedly, and I shot him a sad smile before looking back briefly at the bear in the window.

"My brother gave me a bear just like that for my sixth birthday." I told him sadly, and his eyes widened before he stepped closer in case I needed him. "It was probably the last time we were truly happy…" she sighed, and Crow was amazed that she finally felt strong enough to tell him about her past, and that she trusted him enough to tell him. He watched her as she lightly dropped her hand from the glass, and feeling the need to comfort her somehow, he gently took her hand. She didn't seem to notice as she was too focused seemingly on the bear in the window, but Crow could see that her eyes didn't even see past the glass anymore. "We didn't have as many chances to celebrate again after that, as we had hit a hard time and were hardly making any money, so even he was put to work after school. Then two years later…" I looked down and sighed, feeling that familiar feeling of a limp starting to rise in my throat, but I didn't think about it. "-he was all I had. Our parents both died in a gas leak explosion in our house when I was eight. We were at school."

Crow looked at Mai in shock and sympathy as she told him this. Her parents died when she was eight. That would mean that she would still be able to remember their deaths, and an explosion was no little thing. Crow felt a pang of regret. She had had a past much worse than his. Sure, he had been lonely without someone to look after him when he was growing up, but she had had something good that she had lost in a very brutal way. She sighed. It was then that Crow felt the impulse, to comfort her and protect her, and he suddenly pulled at her hand, spinning her around, and he wrapped his arms around her in a gentle embrace. She was tense in his arms at first, but slowly she started to relax, and she gently held onto him and Crow- he had to admit this to himself- he was thoroughly enjoying this embrace, where she rested her head on his shoulder, sending shocks of electric-like feelings through him.

Perspective Change

Crow was holding me in his arms gently but securely, and it sent a thrill of electricity through my body, especially where he was touching me. He was holding his wrist behind my back, and his chin was resting nearly over my head, and I could feel just how strong he was, his bare arms, and I could feel his abs and the strength of his chest through his shirt and vest, and even though I had tensed with surprise, the reaction I had ingrained in me of waiting for a man to make me do something- he didn't make me do anything. He just held me, and once my heart truly realized the truth of his heart, the feeling I felt was truly amazing, and I relaxed into his embrace, resting my head on his chest, truly feeling safe for the first time since I was six years old, and I recognized this glowing feeling in my heart, even though I had never felt in such a way in my life before.

I was completely, irrevocably and unconditionally in love with Crow Hogan. I trusted him with my life and with my fragile heart. It was the most perfect moment of my life, and I wanted it to last forever.

It was then that my sensitive ears heard the gun barrel being snapped into place high above us, and my instincts took over instantly. I went rigid, and Crow let me go, startled, and I looked up where I had heard the sound coming from, and I saw him- one of _them_- right away.

He was dressed in a black suit, and he was looking down the barrel of a rifle at me, and I felt my body stiffen with fear, and then when I felt Crow see who I was looking at, I saw the man's finger move to the trigger, and bolted impulsively, grabbing Crow's wrist and running as fast as I possibly could.

"Run!" I couldn't scream, but I managed to squeeze every once of fear I had of the man into that one word, and as I felt Crow running away from the man- I heard the crowd start to scream and panic, and one incomplete thought ran through my mind: _-the smartest thing they've ever done…_

We reached Crow's Blackbird within seconds, and in record time I had the seat up, the helmets out, the seat down, helmets on, on the bike and we were off in record-breaking time, going as fast as Crow could possibly push his hand-made, powerful machine. It was when we were halfway towards our home that we heard the copter, and I was practically having a fit of fear, and I felt Crow snap the handlebars in another direction, and I just clung onto him, literally fearing for my life from the men above.

I had a flashback back to when I had escaped from the Organization, and when they had sent the Security after me, and how I had jumped off the bridge to get away from them. Now the Organization itself was chasing me, and the fear ran ice-cold in my veins. The Organization knew I was alive now, and everyone I cared for would be in danger until they had re-captured me, and I feared for their lives.

Crow's shoulder was moving back and forth madly, and I looked over his shoulder to see what he was doing, and I saw that he had opened two- three calls on his screen, and two of them were ringing, and the unresponsive one disappeared. At the top of the screen I read: **EMERGENCY: CALLING: YUSEI FUDO, JACK ATLAS**

I would've breathed a sigh of relief if I hadn't been so scared and packed full of adrenaline- and within seconds the two links opened and expanded into two video calls, revealing both Yusei's and Jack's faces looking concernedly at us.

"Crow!!" They both exclaimed at the same time, and Crow interrupted them, the dead serious look on his face telling them to shut up and listen automatically.

"Jack, Yusei." Crow greeted curtly. "Someone aimed a loaded rifle at Mai, and now we're on the run, but they're now following us in a helicopter." I saw their eyes widen, and then their faces turned to stone-cold seriousness, and the backgrounds shifted as I saw them get up, and they respectively told Aki and Carly that there was an emergency, and that they'd contact them later, but they had to leave now, and I saw them get onto their D-wheels and switch the screens over, and they were off in seconds.

"Where are you?" Yusei commanded. Crow glanced up and then back at the screen.

"Heading toward the 6th and 1000th. Junkyard." Yusei and Jack both nodded, and their links minimized to the bottom of the screen. Once again, my attention was brought back to the wind and speed, holding onto Crow in front of me and the whirring of the helicopter above and behind us. Crow's D-Wheel was only slightly faster than the air-borne machine behind us, but we were slowly gaining distance. When the junkyard was in sight I heard a gunshot, and I let out a small screech, hardly higher than a mouse's squeak, and the back tired fizzed and ripped apart, and Crow hit the brakes, stuttering to a halt, and my instincts had me jumping off the bike, tearing off my helmet and running along with Crow into the junkyard, leaving the bike with the ruined back tire behind without a second thought.

It wasn't long before there was another gunshot, and they had me. I felt the sting and punch in my right arm and I gasped and tripped, nearly pulling Crow down with me. I looked at my arm as my head started to swim, and I saw the tranquilizer dart embedded deep into my arm, and one thought crossed my mind as my vision started swimming and darkening. _Their aim is to capture…_ the last thing I heard was Crow screaming my name and I felt him scoop me up in his arms before turning running away. _Crow… I love you…_

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**A/N: ** Read & Review.


	13. Taken

**Disclaimer:** I don't own what I didn't create.

**A/N:** This chapter is also rated M for the same reasons. There is some swearing and it is quite graphic. Thanks for the review.

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Ice-cold terror flooded through me when I heard the second air gunshot, and heard Mai gasp in pain and fall. I whipped around, and to my fear I saw that her eyes were already getting glassy. In her right arm a black tranquilizer dart had dug deep, and the sight of it told me that they aimed to capture, not kill- but still, seeing her fade scared me more than I had ever been in my life.

"MAI!" I screamed her name, and without a moment's hesitation, I scooped her up into my arms and continued to run, pulling the dart out of her arm in one yank and snapping off the point and putting the dart in my pocket to look at later. Mai was already under, and her head hung limply over my arm, bouncing up and down as I ran, swerving around the junk heaps, trying my best to lose the helicopter hovering behind me. My heart was in my throat, and speed was in my feet, with my mind focused only on safety and Mai.

**Give up the girl and we'll let you go unscathed.** A voice said blandly though a speaker in the helicopter, and a feral snarl rip through my throat, my vision starting to turn red. _Give her up?! _I thought venomously. _Like a snowball in hell, fat fucking chance! I'd rather DIE than 'give her up', you fucking morons!_ There were a few moments of silence apart from the sound of my feet pounding on metal, my heavy, ragged breathing, and the sounds of the blades of the helicopter propellers slicing through the air. A heartbeat passed.

**Your funeral.** The same bland voice spoke again, and my eyes widened slightly at the thought of what that would mean. I wouldn't be able to protect Mai any more. The birthmark on my arm started to glow a scarlet red a split second after I heard the gunshot, and a pressure slammed a flaming pain into the back of my thigh, and I knew instantly as I fell that that pain was from no tranquilizer. My ability to further propel myself further was abruptly null, and I fell forward, my past momentum forcing me forward, and I was forced to drop Mai to keep her from further injury, and I rocketed further forward to a junk pile full of scrap metal, rolling over and over, bouncing a few times and coming to a full stop just in front of it. I lost no time in trying to get back to Mai's side, my left leg completely useless as it dragged behind me as I scrambled forward on my hands and knee- but I was too late.

A man with a lifeless expression and no personality in his eyes pointed a handgun at my head as I saw Mai being tugged up to the helicopter with amazing speed by a rope that had been tied around her waist.

"Move and you die." The man said dully, without any expression change. I glared bloody daggers at him. _Go to hell._ I thought, the pain in the back of my thigh burning with the likeness of fire, but somehow I managed to push it aside as I glared at this man with pure hatred. My hands were in fists, every part of me tensed, on my knees in front of him. "The slave is going back-" _The slave._ I thought no more, and I couldn't control myself anymore as I shook with fury and red anger took my vision over, and I jumped up- roaring with anger and pain, going for his throat- and another blast of fire hit me in the stomach, and I was pushed back, doubling over, clutching at my stomach, gagging and barely managing to keep a grip on the reality of life. I gasped and bit back the pain so hard my lip bled, and I only just managed to look up at him to glare from where I was doubled over on the ground.

A blur of blue hit the man from the side of my vision, snapping his neck, and there I saw Yusei, glaring death at the man crumpled on the ground with his back half-turned to me.

"Crow! CROW!" I heard Jack yell, terror evident in his voice as I lowered my head to the ground, blood already leaking to the ground from my stomach wound. I heard the pounding of his feet suddenly as he ran towards me, and I grimaced in the tremendous amount of pain I felt as I felt Yusei's strong yet thin hands grab a hold of my shoulders and he attempted to lift me out of my fetal position, as I was clutching at my near-fatal bleeding stomach wound. Jack's larger hands joined Yusei's and they managed to prop me up, and they took full inventory of my wounds, their eyes widening in fear as they saw the wound.

"Mai…" I groaned, and Yusei put his ear next to my mouth as I choked out the words, listening intently. "They took…Mai. Those bastards took Mai…" Yusei's head jerked up to glare at the helicopter heading towards the city, and I saw him see something I didn't before Jack lifted me up in a cradle. Yusei stood up beside him, and I squeezed my eyes shut, clenching my teeth against the pain.

"We need to get him to a hospital." Yusei must've nodded, as I knew he would, and I felt Jack carry me over somewhere, and I felt him put me on what I felt was behind Yusei on his D-Wheel. "Try to hold onto him, Crow. I'll make sure to get his D-Wheel back to the flat." I felt Yusei nod, and we were off in a sudden burst of speed. I groaned with the pain it caused me, but I fought for the light, and was determined not to fall into the darkness that was growing behind me, my eyes shut tight against the pain.

"Hold on Crow…" I heard Yusei mutter. "-just hang on. Mai has to have you in her life." _Mai needs me in her life…Mai needs me to live…_ the thoughts passed weakly in my mind, and I thought of Mai, and my heart light with the fire of the will to go on. _I love you Mai… I need to be there for you…alive…_

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**A/N:** Please review.


	14. Out

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** Hey guys, thanks for the reviews. This is the last chapter I have written up for now, and I am currently going to a massage school, so I will pretty busy and not have as much time to write anymore until next month. Also, you might notice that if you have watched '_Taken'_, I have been taking a few elements from that movie and mixing it in here, but my disclaimer also covers that. Btw, I believe I'm going to hit my 15 chapter limit next chapter, so please be patient with me as a figure it out. Remember to suscribe to a 'story alert' if you to be alerted to a new chapter when I figure it out. So please review. It's a form of love. Thank you.

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I had thought we'd lost him as I had ridden my D-Wheel straight through the hospital doors, and even though people screamed and ran, I had ignored them and drove straight up to the front desk, hitting the brakes just before it. I had taken my helmet off in a second, and the woman at the desk had gasped as she recognized me as the King and winner of the Fortune Cup- and she had frozen when I had turned my terrified yet determined blue eyes on her in the utmost seriousness.

"My friend needs the ER." I told her calmly yet urgently. "He's been shot in the stomach at what looks like close range, and I think there's another bullet-wound in the back of his left thigh." The poor woman had looked completely shocked, but she had nodded and pulled herself together, much to my relief, and I had left my locked and parked D-Wheel right there, running after Crow as they got him onto one of those beds and had pushed him through the hospital as fast as they could, through to the ER.

I hadn't been allowed in to see him until I had moved my D-Wheel outside, but that had been a matter that was soon taken care of, while they were doing surgery to remove the flattened bullets in his abdomen and left thigh, and checking him for lead poisoning while investigating the break of his left femur.

I was now sitting by the window in his hospital room, with my head in my hands. The doctors had told me that I had gotten Crow to them just in time, and that he probably wouldn't wake up any time soon, even though he didn't have any lead poisoning, the wounds had most likely been traumatizing, and that his body would have to recover from the shock from such a fatal wound in his lower abdomen. The wound in his leg would most likely heal first- besides the broken bone- because the bullet in his abdomen had hit an artery, and it would take a lot of time to fully seal up. He had nearly died, and it shook me to the core.

I looked up at Crow, lying on the bed in a hospital gown, the flimsy sheets pulled up to his waist, and his arms resting on top of them, an IV stuck in his right wrist. I worried the inside of my bottom lip with my teeth as I looked at him in concern. His hands were still fisted in pain, and his face had only slightly relaxed from the grimace he had worn. The heart monitor that was also attached to him beeped steadily. I sighed. At least he had a solid heartbeat. He had been stabilized, and I hoped he would wake up soon.

I had taken his clothes as the nurses had redressed him in the hospital gown, and I had found a tranquilizer dart with the point snapped off in his pocket. If I could guess, that was what – I could only think of the word _they_- had shot Mai with in order to be able to take her without her struggling. I had it in my hands at the moment, turning it between my fingers, looking at it closely. It was slim and black, with shiny letters that I could only see if I caught it in the light. The S.S.O. What the S.S.O. was, I didn't know, but I knew I would look into it later- once I knew that Crow was going to make it through this.

The automatic doors slid open with a hiss, and I looked up to see Jack confidently striding in, and I stood to meet him, noticing Mai's old green jacket in one of his hands and a sheet of paper in the other. I nodded, and he returned it.

"Jack."

"Yusei." Jack looked over at Crow's unconscious form lying on the bed, and he sighed, the 'Kingly' air he seemed to hold dropping away in an instant. "How is he?" He asked me sadly. I looked at him carefully after looking at Crow for a while. I sighed a little as well.

"He hasn't woken up." I said bluntly, and Jack frowned worriedly, as we both turned to look at him. We couldn't afford to lose Crow. He was a crucial part of our group, and he was the one who held us all together with his laughter and his jokes. He was like a brother to us, and if… if we lost him… no one would be the same anymore. It would be as if the sun had disappeared, leaving us in a world without light or warmth.

It would be even darker since even the moon had disappeared already. Now that I thought about it, the friendship that Crow and Mai shared- if Crow was the sun, then Mai would be his moon. I tilted my head to the side, nearly smiling for a moment. Now that I thought about it, that analogy made perfect sense to me. They were perfect for each other.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The women were all huddled together in a dark corner for warmth and comfort and looking after each other when the man carried Mai in, thrown limply like a sheepskin over his shoulder. They all froze and silenced due to their instincts when they heard the door opening, and when they saw who he brought in, their eyes all widened in disbelief. There was no mistaking that slender body and long, light-brown hair that hung down the man's back. Not to mention that there was also that unmistakable vibe that she gave off like the smell of lavender and sandalwood.

After the man had left the room, the women started to move again and whisper amongst themselves in the dark.

"Who was that?"

"I thought I recognized her…"

"She's the one who escaped…"

"- got out about a month ago, I think."

"The Legendary Woman…"

"-I heard her real name's Mai…"

One woman looked at the door that the man had carried Mai through. She knew Mai from before she had escaped. The crowd of women slaves in the _Organization_ had changed quite a lot since Mai had escaped, some had died, some were brought in, and some had been bought. The women who had been bought were somewhat lucky in a disgusting and morally wrong way. If they were lucky, the women were bought in groups, and only treated like slaves if their _'owner'_ got bored and decided to use them.

The woman closed her eyes in respect and sad acceptation. When she opened them again, she had a light in her eyes that hadn't been there before, and she whispered her own message into the darkness of the room.

"Mai, bringer of hope- you have lit the flame of hope and determination in my heart. Stay strong, and I will get you out of here. Somehow."

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	15. Songs in Limbo

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** Hey guys. Just finished writing this chapter. I hope you like it. It took awhile to write. Rated M. R&R.

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_Mai and I were camping out in the junkyard one night, because the Blackbird had run out of fuel and couldn't be started. I normally I would have pushed it to the nearest gas station if I had been alone, but Mai was there, and I just wanted to be with her, for a little while- wherever she was. Mai was standing there looking at the stars, the silver starlight casting her in a surreal light and making her look beautiful. She started to smile, the silver light shining on the laughter in her eyes, and she looked at me, smiling wide- and the sight just took my breath away. God, she was beautiful…_

~*~

I tightened my fists on the hospital bed, and my eye twitched. I needed to wake up. For Mai. We were both out cold as far as I knew, and I couldn't save her if I wasn't awake. If she was in pain, I was in pain, and the red-gold bond that connected us reached far into the dark.

~*~

_I smiled over at Crow- the night was so beautiful- and I saw him looking at me with slightly widened eyes, and a slightly slackened jaw. He was looking at me like he had never seen me before, and that he was quite taken with what he saw. I turned to face him, and I was tempted to tilt my head curiously to one side, but I didn't._

"_It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" I asked him, and Crow blinked and took in a sigh of air, and muttered something. "Sorry, what did you say?" I asked him, and Crow looked like he was doing some fast thinking._

~*~

Everything was a blur to me again. I felt the drugs being painfully injected into my system through the inside of my left wrist, straight into the veins. I felt the metal cuffs around my wrists and ankles that were attached to mechanical arms which held me forcefully spread-eagled as I felt a burning pain between my legs and a regular bumping rhythm originating from that point. I didn't want to think about it, and it was the only reason I was grateful for the drugs. It took the pain away, and made me practically unaware of what was happening to me. Instead, I thought about Crow and his laughter- and how he had seemed to be the sun that had lit up my night. I missed him. I hoped he was alright. Crow had given me a reason to live. To be with him. I wondered if he had found that unfinished song in my room. I would have liked to have been able to finish it and sing it to him- but now it looked like that wasn't going to be able to happen. I was just going to have to hold on for him. I was going to have to live for him, and if he didn't want me in his life after finding out that I- I didn't want to think about what I was. If Crow hated me, I knew I wouldn't be able to live. Without him, I had nothing.

The man finished with me and left. I sighed in the peace of the silence, but it wasn't long before another one came in. I retreated into my mind.

~*~

_"It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" She asked me. I took a deep breath and sighed, looking at her._

"_Not as beautiful as you…." I whispered to myself. Mai blinked._

"_Sorry, what did you say?" She asked me, and something inside me panicked. She had asked me what I had said, and I couldn't tell her. I was afraid I'd lose her. I didn't want to lose her. Ever. _

_I swallowed and looked up at the sky. Normally you couldn't see the stars from the Satellite junkyard. Tonight was a rare clear night._

"_Yeah, it's beautiful." I said, agreeing with her._

~*~

I heard light footsteps coming towards me in the hospital room, and it didn't sound like Yusei. I felt a soft weight placed next to me on the bed, and I felt Jack's hand gently uncurl my fingers and place something in my hand, rubbing it lightly against my hand so that I could feel the texture. Velvet. Old velvet. _Mai._ I recognized the gentle scent I smelled on it, even way down by my waist. It was Mai's old coat that she liked to wear, even though it was raggedy and old. I had asked her about it, and she had simply told me that it had been her brother's. So that's why it was so baggy on her. He must've been a big guy.

I suddenly felt terrible possessive of anything that was Mai's, and my hand clenched on a reflex, bringing it closer to me. _Mai._

~*~

_Crow had looked up at the sky when he said it was beautiful, so he didn't see the disappointed look on my face. Then I remembered a song my mother used to sing from a musical, and the song was about moonlight and memories. I thought I should sing it. I knew the tune very well. I started off softly, hoping that I really did remember the tune._

"_Midnight,_

_Not a sound from the pavement,_

_Has the moon lost her memory?_

_She is smiling alone,_

_In the lamplight,_

_The withered leaves collect at my feet,_

_And the wind begins to moan," I smiled as I got the tune right, and I smiled even wider as Crow turned around to look at me in awe. I enjoyed his attention, and I continued to sing._

"_Memory,_

_All alone in the moonlight,_

_I can smile at the old days,_

_I was beautiful then,_

_I remember the time I knew what happiness was,_

_Let the memory live again,_

_Every streetlamp,_

_Seems to beat a fatalistic warning,_

_Someone mutters,_

_And the streetlamp gutters,_

_And soon it will be morning," I smiled dryly at that. The sun wouldn't be rising any time soon, and Crow smile too, with that laughter in his eyes. The sun had only just set, and I think he realized that I wasn't singing one of my own songs at the moment. I started to sway to the music I heard as I sung. In the musical- it was a very old musical- it had had a full orchestra playing the music for ir._

"_Daylight,_

_I must wait for the sunrise,_

_I must think of a new life,_

_And I mustn't give in,_

_When the dawn comes,_

_Tonight will be a memory too,_

_And a new day will begin,_

_Burnt out ends of smoky days,_

_The stale cold smell of morning,_

_The streetlamp dies,_

_Another night is over,_

_Another day is dawning,_

_Touch me,_

_It's so easy to leave me,_

_All alone with the memory,_

_Of my days in the sun,_

_If you touch me,_

_You'll understand what happiness is," Crow frowned as he listened to the verse I just sang. It was true to my life. It spoke of when my brother had left me behind. I wasn't smiling as I sang this verse either. I turned my eyes to the sky and sang the last two lines with a slight embellishment._

_"Look,_

_A new day hasn't begun…" I breathed a sigh of silence, and I turned to look at Crow. I half-smiled at him. "My mum used to sing that when I was little."_

~*~

_Crow. Crow. Crow._ With every beat of my heart, I thought of him. The night was dark inside my mind. The moon didn't have any light to shine by, with her sun gone. The stars couldn't shine either, when their mother was so sad that their father wasn't anywhere near. So the little stars of hope, sons and daughters of the sun and moon went looking for the one who would make their mother shine and light up the night like before, and they went to find the father.

_Crow. Crow. Crow._

~*~

_Mai sang a song I had never heard her sing before. It seemed to be about memories and moonlight, and waiting for the rising sun. It seemed sad, and not something she would have sung normally. Something must've inspired her to sing something that wasn't hers. As I listened to her, I marveled at the beauty of her voice, hitting all the right notes, each note sliding smoothly into the next, the sound rising and falling beautifully like the tides of the ocean._

_When she stopped singing, she sighed and looked up at the sky._

_"My mother used to sing that when I was little." She said, and I nodded, thinking. Three lines that she sung resonated with me._

_"It's so easy to leave me,_

_All alone with the memory,_

_Of my days in the sun…" I sung it lightly under my breath, using lower notes that I could sing instead of her higher notes. It sounded so much like something from her life, and I pondered on it, looking at her. She was looking at me in surprise. I smiled at her curiously and tilted my head to one side. She found her voice._

_"You can sing?" She exclaimed, and I smiled at her, not saying anything. She took that as a yes, and her face stated to glow with excitement and joy. Witnessing her joy, I felt a seed of joy being planted in my heart and stating to grow, and I grinned at her. Her joy was contagious. "This is wonderful! We can sing together!" She exclaimed joyfully. I nodded at her, smiling still._

_"I haven't sung much." I said, smiling. "You'll have to teach me." Mai positively beamed._

~*~

I was still thinking of Mai when in the dimmed light of my surrounding, I heard a shimmering sound that brought my head up. For some reason it sounded… almost familiar. Celestial. I saw faint streaks of light streak towards me, and I tired to figure out what they were, the light grew brighter, and the streaks disappeared. Disappointed, the light dimmed, and I could see the little specks of light again. They looked like stars when they were still. Then I heard the little clear voices, tinkling a little how like how I would have expected little bells to sound like.

_"Follow us. Follow us to our Mother Moon, Father Sun. Mother Moon doesn't shine anymore without your light, Father Sun."_

I felt a little warmth, and awe, and a small amount of love for these voices, even though I didn't know who they were.

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice not sounding as nearly divine as theirs. The little voices laughed merrily, happily.

_"We are the stars, Father Sun Crow. You are our father, and Mother Moon Mai is our mother. We are your children."_

My breath caught in my throat, and something in my heart thrilled. I had children, and Mai was their mother. The thought was exhilarating to me, but one thought brought me down, the light around me dimming.

"But I don't have any children. Mai and I aren't even together…" I said sadly, and the little stars laughed.

_"We are the children you have yet to have-,"_ They said, and my head came back up slowly as I listened. _"-and you and Mother Moon might not think you're together, but you have been since forever. Do you remember that feeling you had you met her in the junkyard?"_

I lifted head back up in thought, thinking back on the time. When I had seen Mai, I had felt like a small part of me had recognized her, when I first saw her face. Although I couldn't hear the stars, I had the feeling they were smiling at me.

_"Follow us, help us save our Mother Moon, Father Sun."_ His future children cajoled him, and feeling slightly lightheaded, he nodded, and followed them as they streaked off into the distance.

~*~

_"I haven't sung much. You'll have to teach me." Crow told me, and I beamed. Crow could sing! There was nothing more beautiful than a duet between a woman and a man. I nodded enthusiastically._

_"Do you know 'You are my sunshine'?" I asked him eagerly, and I was surprised when I saw that he didn't know it, shaking his head- but then I realized- he had never known his mother. He had had no one to sing to him when he was a child, and a part of me yearned to hold him and make it up to him. 'You are my sunshine' was a lullaby, and everyone I had known when I was younger knew it- but everyone I had known then had had a mother who loved them. My face saddened as I realized that. "It's a lullaby." I explained, hoping that Crow would be alright with that. Crow nodded, only a small amount of sadness in his eyes- realizing what I had been thinking. I sighed, and I smiled a little at him._

_"Here's the tune." I offered him and started to sing it, and Crow's ears perked up, and he closed his eyes, seeming to relax into the sound of my voice, and without realizing it, I found myself walking closer to him, until I was standing right in front of him, with his bowed head and all. I repeated the verse, crooning the song to him softly._

_"You are my sunshine,_

_My one and only,_

_You make me happy,_

_When skies are grey,_

_Nobody living,_

_Can take my sunshine away…" When he sighed, I felt the impulse, and I wrapped my arms around him, resting my head on his shoulder. He stiffened in surprise, but I kept singing, and I repeated the verse a few more times, and felt his chest start to vibrate, and I heard his golden voice deepen with the song, and I closed my eyes, reveling in the sound. Crow was amazing._

~*~

_Crow. Crow. Crow._

_Mai._

I blinked. _Crow?_ I thought curiously. The darkness around me slowly started to grow lighter in the East, and a silver glow started to emanate from me as the golden light touched me.

_Mai._ My heart jumped a beat. It was Crow! He cared about me still. I saw the stars streak by me like shooting stars, and I saw Crow walking towards me from the East, the horizon growing brighter in gold with every step he took. I looked at him, joy expressing my features. He came for me!

"Mai." He spoke, and his voice sounded so wonderful to my ears. I turned to face him and started to walk towards him.

"Crow." I was so glad that he came for me, but as I made to step forward, my ankle was snagged. I looked down, and saw that I was chained to the floor. I looked up at Crow in despair. I couldn't move. "Crow." I said sadly, and saw his face change to one of worry, and he started to jog towards me- but he didn't get any closer. Then he started to run, but he couldn't get any closer.

"Mai!" He said, and I could see he was starting to panic. I strained against the chain holding me in place, leaning forward sadly, rather resigned to my imprisonment- stretching my arm out towards him.

"Crow." I said sadly, and I saw his eyes flash with determination, and the mark on his right arm started to glow, and he lengthened his stride, and he started to come closer to me. Seeing that, I felt a seed of hope being planted in my heart, and I felt it slowly start to grow. He got closer to me, reaching out to me, and I leaned even further forward, lengthening my body as much as I could. "Crow."

His eyes burned with determination, and his hand was almost to mine, and I could just barely feel his fingertips, and I could feel the heat from his mark. _Mai._ I felt his mind respond to my voice, he was solely concentrating on getting to me. He moved a step closer to me, and I could feel his fingers on my palm, and my fingers on the tough skin of his palm, but then he was jerked away from me forcefully, unwillingly.

"MAI!" He screamed my name as he vanished. I was surprised, and I stepped back, evaluating the situation. Crow was gone. He was gone, but somehow I knew that he wouldn't rest until he found me. I loved him. He was going to come save me, I could feel it in my heart, I could feel it in my soul.

"Crow." I sat down once again, and I wrapped my arms around my knees, and rested my forehead on them. "Crow." The gold light might have vanished with Crow, but now that I knew that he was coming for me, the silver light didn't disappear. The moon might not be able to see the sun she loved at night, but she knew that he was always there, knew that he was coming for her, so she still shined to show him the way. "Crow." I whispered. "I love you."

~*~

_"You are my sunshine,_

_My one and only,_

_You make me happy,_

_When skies are grey,_

_Nobody living,_

_Can take my sunshine away…" I sang with Mai holding me, her head resting on my shoulder, and I held my wrist behind her. She had closed her eyes, and I saw her smile, and I felt my heart soften for her. She made me happy, when the skies were grey. I didn't know what I'd do without her._

_The rest of the night blurred into happiness and gladness for us to be with each other, and we lay on our backs and looked up at the stars until we fell asleep, and in the morning, we woke up, and we took our time going home, neither of us wanting this extraordinary time of happiness to end._

~*~

I was being shaken gently but roughly. I felt myself starting to wake up from the darkness.

"Crow! Wake up! It's just a dream!" That was Jack. I knew that Jack only wanted to think about himself most of the time, but he has been known for pulling through for others when he was needed. Another shake, and I opened my eyes with a gasp, seeing only the ceiling, and Jack's concerned then relieved face. He sighed, but I didn't hear what he said.

"Mai!" I gasped. I clenched my hands tighter, and remembered the green velvet coat that was still in my hands. I looked down at it softly, and I pulled it closer to me. It was heavy. There was something in the inside pocket. I looked, and there was Mai's deck of cards. Her Arts Deck. My heart ached as I remembered the day she first showed me her deck. "Mai…" I said as I opened the waterproof container, and looked at her cards. Just like her, the cards were beautiful.

"Crow…" I looked up at Yusei. He was looking at me seriously, like he had bad news. I felt the familiar rush of cold anxiety. He held up the broken black dart I had pulled out of my arm. "I found out where this came from." I swallowed and nodded, prompting him to go on. "It's a drug dart manufactured by the S.S.O." Yusei paused judging my reaction. I waited for him to go on, clenching my hands around Mai's old coat. I had a feeling I wouldn't like what he was going to say. "I managed to find some records, and last month, Mai managed to escape from the S.S.O. when it was supposed to be impossible to get out. Four nights ago, the S.S.O. managed to re-capture her, using this drug dart, and shooting you so that you almost died- after realizing that she hadn't died after a daring jump off of the Daedalus Bridge into the ocean several thousand feet below." Yusei paused again, looking at me, then sighing. "We're already planning a way to get her back." He looked at me. "The S.S.O. stands for the 'The Sex Slave Organization'." Yusei grimaced. "The women are held there against their will, and you can imagine what happens."

I was shocked. I wasn't breathing either. Mai… Yusei continued.

"Mai had gone to what she had thought was a harmless Organization that would give her the information she had craved on her older brother who had been missing for four years, aged 15. A couple days later they gave her the information, and she didn't have the money to pay them, so they took her forcefully from my mother's house where she had been living after the death of her parents. She somehow managed to escape two years later, when I can imagine you found her a day or less later in that junkyard." I forced myself to start breathing, as Yusei and Jack exchanged a worried glance with each other because I assumed they had noticed that I wasn't breathing. Jack stepped forward, holding up a piece of paper between his fingers.

"You changed her life, Crow." He said gently. "I read the song she was writing, and judging from what she wrote," He paused as he offered it to me, and I snatched it from him, then groaning as it jostled my wounds. "- you gave her something to live for." He said respectfully, and I contemplated the thought before I started to read.


	16. What Needs to be Done

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** Read & Review please. Reviews are what keep writers writng.

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I took the piece of paper, and carefully turning it over, I saw written carefully at the top of the page: "_Because Of You- for Crow_'. I swallowed, an indescribable soft feeling filling me. She had written me a song.

_"Because you were there,_

_You saved me from falling,_

_In so many ways,_

_You gave me happiness,_

_-_

_Showed me that the sun still shines,_

_Above the clouds on a rainy grey day,_

_Showed me just how great it was,_

_To be with you and not be afraid,_

_-_

_You showed how a smile in the dark,_

_How it can light up the room,_

_How kindness can chase away the cold,_

_Your warmth could melt the ice,_

_-_

_Freeing me from that hostile world,_

_Turning my eyes away from hurt,_

_Showing me the light of the sun,_

_And the silver of the full moon…_" As I read it, I swore I could hear her voice singing it in my head. It was beautiful, even though it was unfinished. I had to get her back. The emotions I felt through the poem turned into anger- fury at Mai's captors. I don't know how I couldn't see it before- the way how Mai was always so on edge and ready to fight around men she didn't know. The Organization that had her was using her mercilessly. That was the symbolism of the shackles I saw around her ankle in the dream. She couldn't escape on her own this time. She needed us to save her. She needed me to save her. I clenched my teeth and looked up. I knew I couldn't leave here until I was fully healed. Just a matter of how long that would take could drive me insane with impatience.

Jack was standing there, shifting his weight from foot to foot uncomfortably, and not meeting my eyes, while Yusei stood there solidly on both feet, looking me straight in the eyes calmly.

"How long will it take for me to heal?" I asked, almost dreading the answer. Yusei looked at me sadly.

"Around a month." He said, and my eyes widened.

"A month!" I yelled unintentionally, and Yusei only blinked. "I can't wait that long!"

"We have to find a way to get through the S.S.O.'s defenses before we make a move." Yusei said quietly. "Only when we know every weak spot in their armor, can we attempt to rescue Mai." Yusei paused. "The S.S.O. is more powerful than Goodwin ever was." That last sentence shocked me, silencing me.

"More powerful..?" I asked weakly. Yusei nodded sadly, but didn't say anything more on the subject of their power.

"We've been looking into who might know about the S.S.O.'s defenses and weak points, and we've found somebody who might be able to tell us, but we don't know his location…" he said carefully, not looking at me for the first time since I had woken up, like- he was ashamed or something. I looked at him warily.

"Who did you find?" I asked guardedly. Yusei met my eyes with a bit of sympathy in his eyes.

"His name is Kleizer Wong. He's Mai's older brother." Another shock to my system. Mai's older brother. I lay back against the bed trying to take it all in. Mai had never told me her older brother's name, and now I saw why. He worked with the Organization. It was the only thing that made sense to me, if he knew the Organization's weaknesses. She still wanted to protect him, even after he had abandoned her. I sighed and closed my eyes. It was all too much to take in at once. The familiar nothingness came up to greet me, and I lingered at the edge, enjoying the peace it gave me, but not willing to fully fall into again. I was needed, and so I didn't go too far away.

~*~

I knew I would have to see my mother for more information on Mai's brother. I didn't know yet if I was personally ready for- whatever would happen, but this was something I needed to do. I looked at Crow's unconscious form, looking more at peace than he had before he had woken up- but with a worried look on his face instead of pain. I sighed, and Jack looked over at me, with an almost questioning look in his eyes.

"Yusei?"

"I need to see my mother." I sighed, and Jack's eyebrows came together in slight confusion.

"You know, now's not really a time to…"

"-My mother practically raised Mai and Kleizer. She'd know more about him than we do." I interrupted. Jack made an expression of understanding.

"Oh." I moved towards the door, pulling out my cell phone as I went.

"You're going now?" I turned around and gave Jack a look just before I went through the doors that said: 'what does it look like I'm doing?' Jack shrugged, and looked the other way, not really caring about what I did, and I continued on through the doors and down towards the parking lot, flipping open my phone, dialing a number and putting it to my ear as it rang. If I was going to do this, I wasn't going to do it alone. The phone stopped ringing at the other end, as it was picked up, and a female voice said:

"Hello?"

"Aki." I greeted. "I need your help with something."


	17. Momma Fudo

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N: **I'm sorry it's taken me such a long time to update. I have been very busy with massage classes and Taekwondo, and I'm sorry that this chapter is so short, but I hope you like it.

Oh, and thank you to The Avatar of Bahamut for reviewing. You did indeed get your two cents in. ;)

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There I was. Standing in front of the door to my mother's house with Aki by my side. I had been through many painful things before, but for the first time in a long time… I felt truly uneasy. Even a little afraid. I didn't know what could happen- what would happen as I raised my fist to knock on the door, and I pulled it back to knock, but as it got closer to the door, something in me wouldn't let me do it, and I gently rested my hand against the door. I was afraid.

My life wasn't threatened or anything, and I almost wished that I was in a situation like that, so that I could make a decision without hesitation. Aki gently took a hold of my arm, and hugged it gently. I smiled at her, and she smiled at me in return.

"You can do this." She whispered, and I had to swallow a small bit of fear as I smiled at her somewhat shakily and looked back at the door. I wasn't afraid of fighting, and I wasn't afraid of dying. I wasn't afraid to face the repercussions of my actions. I was afraid of making the wrong choice. The countless 'what ifs' were swirling around in my head- most of them irrational, but I couldn't help hearing them, and it made me afraid.

What if she thought she had thought her son had died a long time ago, and wouldn't… accept me? What if she thought that she hadn't had a son to start with? I knew that was stupid, but still… What if? That was enough 'what if's'. A true man didn't cower in front of his fear, but stood up strong and faced it. I took in a deep breath and swallowed one last time, straightening my back, and I raised my hand to knock. I swallowed, and Aki hugged my arm reassuringly.

Knock. Knock.

For a few moments, I could hear nothing from behind the door, and I was tempted to look through one of the windows to see if anyone was in, when I heard soft footsteps on carpet on the other side of the door. I stiffened automatically, and Aki rubbed my arm, making me relax hesitantly. The feet paused on the other side of the door, and I could hear and see the doorknob turning. The door swung inwards, revealing a woman old enough to be my mother, only as high as my shoulder, with a soft face, short brown hair, and kind, tired eyes.

"Hel-" She started to greet, but when she looked at my face, she froze, astonished. I couldn't say anything either. I felt Aki glance up at me, noticing that my eyes were fixated on the woman before me. "-lo…' she trailed off, gazing at me. Aki straightened, and loosened her hold on my arm, but I placed my hand on hers as she was about to let go. I could see her smile slightly out of the corner of my eye, and it made me feel slightly warmer inside.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but are you Mrs. Ami Fudo, who was married to Mr. Fudo, the scientist?" Aki asked politely. The woman blinked, and turned to look at her, struggling to take her eyes away from my face, shaking a little. She smiled shakily at her, and raised her hand to shake Aki's, nodding politely.

"Yes, I am her. May I know your names?" Aki smiled as I'm sure she noticed the plural on the word names as well. I had to smile a little. She had only just met me, and I could tell that she recognized me, even though the last time she had seen me was as an infant.

"I am Aki Izayoi, the Senator's daughter, and this is…" my mother turned to look at me, and the feeling that I hadn't noticed growing in my heart suddenly warmed up reactively. I couldn't deny it any longer. This warmth I felt in my heart was the warmth of the love a son felt for his mother- I knew that without even having to ask, it was instinct- and I smiled widely at her. Her eyes started to shine, like she recognized it.

"Hi mom." I smiled at her, and I saw her knees start to shake, so I reached out to support her at her elbow, and she held onto my arm, stars in her eyes.

"- Yusei Fudo." My mother started to cry, and I saw her smile through them. She was crying with happiness. She let go of my arm, and she fell towards me, and I wrapped my arms around her, smiling gently.

"My baby!" she sobbed, and I couldn't help but smile. I could imagine any mother in her situation would have reacted exactly the same way. Her baby son had come home, a man. I rested my chin on her hair.

"It's good to be home."


	18. What She Knows

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** Ok. To be perfectly honest, this was one tough chapter. Anyways, sorry I took so long to update, and I hope it's not too short for your liking. R&R.

* * *

My mother's kitchen was really very nice, and I stood at the door. Just looking around. When I had entered the house, I saw pictures of myself and my mother and father everywhere. Pictures of me as an infant, and my mom and dad laughing. Then there were pictures of Mai as a young girl with a young red-headed boy who could've only have been Mai's older brother, Kleizer. The sight of him made me blink. His hair was the exact same shade as Crow's in those photos. The picture of him that I had seen in his criminal records looked almost nothing like that happy-faced boy in the picture frames.

I looked around as my mother set two cups of tea on the table along with a plate of cookies, and I smiled at the homeliness of it. Martha, my Satellite foster mother had done that a lot when I was little. But I hadn't come here to find out about the past, or to catch up on lost time. That would have to come later. For now, I needed information about Kleizer, and anything that I didn't know about Mai either. Still, I sat down at the table and smiled at my mother, taking a sip of the tea. It was delicious.

My mother just sat there, beaming at me, and it made me kind of sad to have to break that happy mood of hers so soon. I sighed and set the cup down. Her face fell, as if she knew something was coming.

"Mom." She blinked and waited, and I looked up at her. A part of me hated to bring this up, but I had to. I looked for the right words to say. "You've been a babysitter to two siblings, called Mai and Kleizer Wong." I saw the surprise show on her face instantly. I smiled a little to ease it, and she relaxed a bit. "I've become friends with Mai, who sees you as a substitute mother from when you took her brother and herself in after their parent's death in a gas leak explosion when she was eight." My mother's jaw dropped open, looking like a classic picture of surprise. I knew that as far as she knew, Mai and I had never met. So surprise was a natural reaction for her when she found out I knew how Mai's parents had died so long ago. Time to drop the bomb. "She's been kidnapped, and we need to know where we could find her brother, Kleizer, who is on the inside of the Organization. We were hoping that you might know."

My mother sat there, opening and shutting her mouth like a fish out of water, trying to find something to say. I didn't blame her at all, and I looked at the table, ashamed of myself for having brought it up so quickly. Then I felt Aki place her hand sympathetically on mine, and looked up to meet her sympathetic gaze with a sad smile, and I heard my mother sigh, causing me to look at her. She was watching the two of us with a sad smile and a sort of detached air. I think she realized I wasn't really her child anymore. I had grown up in a harsh world without her, and nothing she could do would change that. She just had to accept what she had been given.

"Kleizer Wong was a good boy, and he grew up well. He always looked after his little sister when they were young, and made sure that she wasn't bullied at school." She sighed again. "I think it shocked him when their parents died so violently in that explosion. He was never the same after that." Aki pulled her chair over a little closer to mine, and held my hand more firmly, leaning gently into my side. I squeezed her hand reassuringly. "He started having 'friends' over from the city, and they weren't the type I liked, so he started going to their places and getting high." She frowned. "Cocaine and things like that. I didn't even want to know what he was doing, but when he slapped his sister and left her for dead in a junkyard, that was when I drew the line. Mai was half dead with cold and a broken heart when I rushed into the hospital to make sure she was alright. They had had to put a drip in her arm because she was dehydrated from crying so much.

Kleizer never came home, and I looked everywhere for him. I never found him, and I had all but given up when Mai decided to take matters into her own hands." My mother smiled emptily, her eyes sad. "She never gave up on him. She still loved him after all he'd done, and she went into the City and looked around. Then one day she came home after half a year of searching with a file of information. She didn't share it with me, but I heard her crying herself to sleep that night. Then I snuck into her room after I was sure she was asleep, and I took the file back to my room. He was no longer the happy little boy I knew who always had a smile ready for his little sister. Completely wasted." She said, with a look half of disgust and half of sorrow. "He had the brown marks of a notorious drug dealer, and he lived not too far away from the Organization itself. The corner of 6th and 7th, I believe. He never stayed in one place too long, but that house always stayed in his name." She sighed and looked up from the table into my eyes sadly. "Then, in the morning, she was gone."

Silence. I could hear the house working, as you can hear old houses doing, and the atmosphere was tense. Just by looking into my mother's eyes, she knew something bad had happened to the little girl she had come to love, and I felt sorry for her.

"She escaped, you know." I said abruptly, breaking the silence. Mum looked at me. "She was the only one who ever managed it. Jumped off the Daedalus Bridge to throw Security off the tail." My mum blinked, and I'm sure she was seeing the splash of the water in her mind's eye.

"Well…" she said. "Wouldn't the Security finding her have been a good thing?" she asked, and I couldn't help but smile wryly at the innocence of her question, and she looked at me curiously.

"Mom." I said, and she smile briefly on hearing the word, even though it still felt rather strange coming from my mouth. "The Security isn't good or bad. They just do as they're told and hope they get a good paycheck." I said standing up, and Aki rose with me, and I smiled gratefully at my mother as she stood as well. "Thank you for telling us what you know, and unless you still have that file on Kleizer, we must be off." My mother raised her hands, looking alarmed, and I looked at her curiously, causing her to look awkwardly at the plate of cookies that sat untouched on the table.

"Won't- won't you have a cookie before you go?" she asked hopefully, and I smiled happily at her, the warmth of affection in my heart growing strong again.

_She's my mother._


	19. Kleizer Wong

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** This is for Renee, who's recent review inspired me to update. Thank you. It's not only the few who have reviewed before that are reading this, I know realize. Thank you.

* * *

I could understand why she kicked me when she first met me now. I rubbed my stomach at the memory as I watched Crow sleep fitfully on the hospital bed. Mai. Mai was the source of everything that had happened in our lives recently. Mai was one of the few people who ever really got me to see something in a new light, and I, Jack Atlas rarely changed my points of view.

I blinked and looked out the window. Mai had changed everything for us, and Mai was someone we had failed to protect. But I, Jack Atlas, never failed, and doing so made me angry. Very angry.

I glared through the window and walked over to the wall to lean against it while looking outside. At first, Mai was reminded of her brother when she looked at Crow, but I could tell that as she got to know him better, she starting seeing past his red hair and to his tortured soul. A kindred spirit, I now realized upon thinking of her abuse, and how she had found a way to go on, to escape. A kindred spirit in the terms of the fire in their hearts.

I blinked when I realized what path my thoughts had been taking, and I smirked a little in humor. She's made me softer than I thought. I thought, my eyes softening a little, and I frowned. I'm such a sap.

"I'm a Barbie-" My phone went off, and with lightening fast reflexes, I pulled it out of my pocket, flipped it open and pressed the 'call' button. I HATE that song, and that's why I had put it as Yusei's ring tone one day when I was having a hissy fit and decided to direct it at him. It had been about a month now, and it was REALLY starting to grate on my nerves. I gritted my teeth and put the phone to my ear.

"Yusei? You better-"

"I found him." I blinked, my annoyance cut straight off like a bucket of ice on hot feet, my mouth still slightly open in the words I had forgotten to say.

"What?" I asked stupidly, not knowing what else to say.

"I found Kleizer Wong." He said, and my eyes widened in understanding. "I found Mai's brother. Aki's already heading your way to stay with Crow. Meet me on the corner of the 6th and 7th." He hung up, and I stood there for a few moments, shocked. Kleizer Wong. Mai's older brother and the man who unknowingly supplied the drugs to the Organization that kept his little sister imprisoned and used by sadistic bastards- one of many- maybe even thousands of women who were trapped there. I glared at a spot on the floor and scowled dangerously. If I could, I would free all those women who deserved a better life.

The doors slid open with a hiss and Aki entered, glancing at Crow's prone form as she walked in. I pushed off the wall and met her eyes, nodding in greeting before walking past her and through the doors towards the exit to the parking lot. That bastard would pay.

* * *

He looked just like the picture in his file as he sat in the chair he was tied to, looking bored out of his mind. I could see Mai in the shape of his face, but where she was timid, he was confident, and where she tended not to meet your eyes, he looked straight back at you with lazy, bored eyes. He was skinny and lean wearing jeans and a rock'n'roll black band t-shirt, slouching. I was leaning against the wall in the shadows with my arms crossed and watching him. He looked around the room lazily, and he looked as if he had been laying off of the drugs for awhile, looking a little stronger, healthier.

The door slammed open with a loud bang, and Kliezer jumped, looking at the door as Jack stormed in angrily, stopping just inside the door with the energy of a wrathful king. I looked at him calmly and he found me with his eyes as the red-head watched him cautiously, and strode over me. He had a barely suppressed anger hidden like fire within his eyes, and he gritted his teeth when he spoke to me, jerking his thumb over his shoulder towards the bound redhead.

"Is this the bastard that hurt her?" He gritted out angrily, and I narrowed my eyes slightly in warning at him and nodded. Jack understood and he swore under his breath, glaring at the bottom of the wall I was leaning against. We needed Mai's brother alive, and we needed him to be willing to help us, so I pushed myself off the wall and walked so that I was facing him with a stony, unforgiving stare.

"Kleizer." I said coldly, and he slanted his eyes up at me. "You're a released criminal drug dealer supplying the S.S.O. with drugs." I stated, and he narrowed his eyes in slight confusion and nodded a little. "Do you know what the S.S.O. stands for?" Kleizer's eyebrows furrowed and he turned to face me, shaking his head. My heart stood still for a short moment and Jack looked up at him as well from next to the wall, most of his anger forgotten and probably thinking the same ting I was. He doesn't know. "Do you know how it works?" Nod. "The S.S.O. stands for the 'Sex Slave Organization'. How well do you know your sister?" A look of utter confusion crossed Kliezer's face before he responded warily.

"Well enough."

"So you know how much you mean to her?" Silence. "You were high when your sister sought you out and found you in a local junkyard six years ago. You abused her and left her for dead, never to be seen by your family again." The silence was now a stunned one. "Four years later, your sister went to the S.S.O. looking for information on you. They provided the information, and charging her a fee she could not pay, they took her body instead. A year later she escaped and met Crow in a junkyard, and he introduced her to us." I paused, for what I was going to say next was painful for me to actually say, for the guilt of not being able to save my friend. I breathed. "About two weeks ago, my friend Crow was wounded fatally trying to protect Mai from the S.S.O. who shot her with a drug dart which caused her to fall unconscious. He failed and she was taken, Crow barely escaping with his life. You know how this Organization works. When Crow heals in the next two weeks, we are going to save her, and we need your knowledge."

Kleizer sat there, looking absolutely shocked and worried by the news he was hearing for the first time at this moment. A moment passed and his faced filled with regret and grief as he hung his head.

"I never meant for this to happen." He muttered, and I had to lean in slightly to hear what he was saying. "I never meant it to be this way… Mai. I knew she loved me, and I knew she'd try to follow me, but- where I was going- I couldn't let her follow me. I couldn't. That's why I hurt her." He looked up at me and his eyes were shining with shameful tears. "I was trying to make her hate me."


	20. Sister & Brother

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** Heya guys. FINALLY updated, though I think it's not as good as the other chapters, if those were good at all. It'll get better, I promise.

Please review.

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"What good would that have done?" Kleizer and I turned to look at Jack as he frowned angrily at the man, leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest. I looked at him calmly and waited while the red-head looked at him in confusion. Jack looked at him and gritted his teeth, narrowing his eyes. "When someone loves you that much, they'll never leave you alone. From what I've seen, a girl like that would go on relay races to hell and back just to make sure you were alright." I turned and looked at Mai's brother, who hung his head in shame. "Trying to make her hate you would never work." I watched in silence as Kleizer Wong choked back his tears and took deep breaths to calm himself down.

"So- so my little sister is a-" His throat closed off on him, and he swallowed. "She's been taken by the Organization who is using her as a sex slave?" He asked warily, looking first at Jack then at me. I looked at him carefully for a moment before nodding, and his face twisted in pain. "Mai…" I watched him silently as he slowly leaned forward, his arms tied behind him to the chair- until he rested his forehead on his knees, his longish ginger hair falling to cover his knees, shining in the light. He stayed that way for a while, and I saw a drop of water catch the light as it fell to the floor. I sighed quietly. He was crying without making a sound.

"You can help us save her." I said, and if he had been moving before, he stilled now. "You know how to get in, and you can lead us to where she is." Kleizer shook his head, and I frowned. He wiped his face on his knees before looking up, his head covering his face as he looked at his knees.

"I can't take you to her. I never knew what they used the drugs I brought them for until now, but I can get you in, and I can find you someone who can show you the way." I blinked and looked over at Jack when he spoke.

"Who?"

"An old friend of mine. She knows the place better than I do."

"So you'll help us." It was more of a statement, but Kliezer looked at me with a fire in his eyes that I recognized.

"Even if I die trying." The air suddenly froze, and it felt as though everyone had caught their breath, and I blinked before walking over and untying him. One thing that we all knew was that dying while trying to save Mai wasn't impossible.

* * *

Two weeks passed. It was like time couldn't pass fast enough, though we needed the time to plan while Crow healed. This was no minor stint we were doing. This was a very serious rescue mission, and when we would sneak in to rescue Mai, it was very possible that anyone of us could die in the attempt. It was a risk we were all willing to take.

When Crow and Kliezer met for the first time, it was like a moment of shocked recognition and amazed recognition between the two of them respectively as they just looked at each other for a few moments, Crow still lying on the bed, his leg free of the cast, but his abdomen still wrapped up tight. Eventually it was Kliezer who broke the silence with a quiet, awkward laugh as his massaged the back of his neck somewhat anxiously.

"Wow…" He had said, and Crow's eyes had narrowed as he looked at the brother who had betrayed the woman he loved before nodding sharply but minusculy, barely inclining his head.

"Yeah." They could both see the resemblance, and we could all feel the

unspoken words hanging in the air.

Before we knew it though, it was time, and we found ourselves looking up at a tall, white, windowless building just off of the main street in Neo Domino city. Nearly everyone's blood was boiling at the sheer audacity of the placement of the headquarters of such an illegal and disgusting group, but the common phrase kept running through everyone's minds.

_"Best hidden in plain sight."_


	21. All You've Got

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** I would like to have five reviews before I update. Sorry that this update has taken so long.

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It almost felt like one of my old stints stealing cards from Security back when the sattelite and Neo Domino City were still separate. Back then the worst thing was being caught and thrown into one of those rehab halls or whatever they're called. This time if you were caught, you'd die. It was that risky, so we had to be that much more careful. That's what all the planning had been for.

We had waited for the cover of darkness before making our way to the building next to the Security Maintenance Bureau, where the S.S.O. was situated, disguised in plain sight. The vile thing disgusted me, standing out there so plainly like that. _Vile, stinking, sick, twisted…_ There was no end to my mental swears as I scowled, tense as I mentally prepared for the break-in, swiping my hand through my ginger hair every now and then. I looked to my left where Yusei and Jack were peering out of the dark alley we were hiding in, scanning the dark with alert cat-like and dog-like eyes. I sighed silently. _I want to go NOW._ I had never felt this impatient before any of my security stints, and the main reason was probably because I wasn't swiping cards this time. I was saving Mai. Mai. I looked slyly to my right, and saw Kleizer leaning against the wall in the darkness a foot or so away from me, his head bowed with his ginger hair hanging down to hide his eyes, as silent and still as a statue. He topped Yusei with this attitude he was in. I frowned. I didn't know the man very well, but I could tell one thing by just being around him. I could tell that he really loved his sister, and he was taking her capture hard, doubly so when he realized that he had practically handed her to the worst people on the planet on a silver platter. I watched a tear slide down his cheek, catching the little light there was before I looked away. _He knows the way. That's all there is to it._

I had been discharged from the hospital yesterday morning, and I had spent all that time gathering all the old equiptment I used to use in my break-ins and sorted through all of it time and again, deciding what we needed and what we didn't. Just in case it came in handy, and it was all in a russack thrown oven my shoulder. Kleizer was the one who was getting us in there, and I narrowed my eyes at the ground, a dull sort of anger filling through me. I wanted to be able to do more. It felt so wrong that the one that drove her there was getting her out, even if he was her older brother. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kleizer suddenly raise his wrist closer to his face and hold it there for a few seconds before dropping it and pushing himself off the wall, walking to stand between Yusei and Jack. I followed. He was scanning the streets before his gaze locked on a door opening, deep in the alley next to the building we were watching. A woman stepped out, and closed the door slowly, keeping it only barely open with her foot stuck in the doorframe as she looked around. Kleizer straightened a little, showing his eyes strong with determination.

"It's time." He whispered, and I only barely heard him as he strode out into the light and towards the woman who now had her grim, grey eyes locked on him. Yusei gritted his teeth as Jack and I hissed, glaring around us to make sure the coast was clear before running after him. He was standing in front of the woman now, a good two heads taller than her, and she was looking up at him with a grim sort of mild glare.

"It's been awhile Fire." The nickname caught my ears, and I looked up, interested. It was obviously a reference to his hair color. Kleizer's eyes tightened and he sighed.

"I know. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to do something that might cost you your life Wife." My eyes widened as I listened to them speak. 'Wife' was obviously another nickname, and needless to say, it shocked me to the core that he was warning her. _Does he want her to bail on us?_ She smiled dryly, the skin around her eyes lifting, but her eyes devoid of any emotion… and something I couldn't detect. It was like wry resignation.

"As if all of us don't face that every day. She escaped once when we all believed it impossible. If she can do it once but got recaptured, we all know that they'd keep her down. But the Legendary Woman is called that for a reason. If she needs help, we're going to give it." My mouth had officially dropped open by this point. _LEGENDARY _**_WOMAN? _**_How come I never knew about this?_ Mentally, I did a fanboy-ish, anime-style melt down, sweat drops and jaw hanging open and everything. _She's the female version of the Legendary Man! But better!_ I snapped out of the fanboy-ish melt down and did an anime-style smugish act, hand on my hip and examining my nails with a grin reminiscent of the cat that ate the canary. _She's my girlfriend!_ I paused and looked ahead of me, thinking. _That is… if she ever actually accepted._ I did a mental FAIL and bent over double with my arms hanging out in front of me, miniature thundercloud over my head and black lines across my forehead and eyes to imitate my hair casting half of my face into shadow.

"Crow?" I blinked, and came back to the real world. Yusei was looking at me curiously, and I fought back the automatic blush that was trying to rise to my cheeks. He nodded to inside the door, which he was holding open, and I silently face-palmed. Jack, Kleizer and Wife were already inside, and I hurried after them, settling back into my previous serious mood as Yusei silently closed the door behind us and caught up.

It was dark in here, and silent, a dim wall lights high on the wall providing meager light every few feet after the one before it faded out of view. It felt like tomb. I wasn't psychic or anything, but the atmosphere was similar to one several feet underground, and as far as I knew, we weren't heading into a hill, and the floor didn't slope down either. The lights flashed by as we walked as fast as we could without actually running down this hall as straight as a bullet, and it reminded me of riding my duel runner through a long, dark tunnel. I wondered if the others had thought of the same thing, and I was just starting to wonder how long this would take when the end came in sight.

Kleizer stood behind Wife, his frame almost blocking or protecting Wife's from sight, and I listened as she took out some keys and unlocked the door, opening it and holding it for us to walk through. It was darker in here than it was in the hallway, the only light coming from the windows high up in the rafters. As far as I could tell, it resembled a small warehouse.

As soon as we all walked in, I heard a series of muffled gasps, scuffling and sshh!-ing. I looked around, instinctively settled into high alert. What was that? It had stopped as soon as it had begun, and Jack was looking around warily as Yusei tensed, looking around as well. Kleizer was the only one of us that hadn't reacted the same way. He was looking at the floor, his hands lightly clenched and tightening as he started to shake. Wife was looking at him grimly.

"This many?" He hissed under his breath angrily, and we all looked at him, puzzled and looking for answers. You could practically feel the anger radiating off of him as he shook in the patch of lamplight that fell from the window to land on him, his hair covering his eyes. "They've taken this many women **captive?**" He was barely restraining his anger, and I saw Jack go rigid as Yusei and my eyes widened as my breath caught in my throat. _This many women?_ A sense of dread filled me as I hesitantly looked around the room, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness. I bit back a hiss.

From wall to wall about 20 feet wide, there were women of varying ages curled up on futons on the floor, bodies barely covered by the clothes they were wearing as they curled into each other for protection, shivering in fear. There were rows of them. Three, actually. I couldn't **BELIEVE IT!** I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth and glared at the floor. I had known that Mai wasn't the only one, couldn't have been the only one taken by this organization, but for it to be like this!

"We'll get them out of here." I growled, and I felt the others looking at me. "None of them deserve this."

"Ever wondered why there are no female prisons?" I looked up in surprise, and Wife was standing in front of me, a hard look in her eyes. An inner part of me recoiled further into myself like a kicked puppy. "Not every woman here is mentally sound. Not every woman came here as an innocent." My eyes widened as the others came to stand around us, Yusei by my side and Kleizer taking Jack's arm and pulling him to stand behind us. I only barely heard Kleizer whisper to him: "Don't circle her." She blinked. "We have murderers, convicts and the mentally unstable. For the most part, they are kept away from the rest of us, unless 'They' want to teach us a lesson. Some men like women like that. Some of them like a fight." She said, her eyes narrowing as she glared between us at a point on the wall. "Originally, this started as a means for the government to keep those people away from the rest of society, but The Organization soon disappeared from all public records as their means of _profit_-" she practically spat the word out. "-got more and more twisted." This was hard to hear, but a part of me knew that I had to know this. I don't know how I knew that. "Women never seem to go bankrupt around here, because most of them are taken out of the picture before that can happen. They are **sick **people, and Mai is being treated the worst of anyone," I tensed up, inwardly angry, and I didn't notice Kleizer doing the same. "-so it's going to be that much harder to get her out." She looked up and around at us, her gaze hard and calculating. "It's going to be a tough fight boys, so you're going to have to give it all you've got."


	22. To Right All Wrongs

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N: **I decided to update before I got the requested number of reviews, plainly because I have already finished the story, there's only one chapter after this, and I kind of wanted to get this one over with so that I could focus on my other stories. I want at least three reviews before I update please.

Thank you.

* * *

Giving everything I had into this rescue effort wasn't even a question. Holding anything back was unacceptable. It would be an unmentionable sin to hold anything back. She was my sister. I'd be willing to do anything to get her out of there, even more so because it was my fault that she was in there in the first place. I felt so guilty, it surpassed normal bounds and became something stronger, something different. Much more potent.

I was dimly aware of passing through halls, following Wife as she talked me through to where my sister was, lost in my memories. Mai had always been a happy-faced little child, so warm and loving. Living with our parents had been the happiest times of our lives, a golden age. It was like a heaven on earth. I had just spiraled out of control after their deaths. It probably hit me the hardest, actually; seeing that explosion erupting from our house with a plume of flame and a mushroom cloud of smoke. Knowing that our parents were inside, and knowing exactly what it meant. Our lives changing drastically, everything turning on it's head, the mental image of our mother and father, sound asleep and incinerated. Looking back on that day, I now realized exactly what Mai had done. I had been numb and silent with shock, and she- younger though she was- took control. I remembered now. She was too young to understand what had happened to our parents, but she had seen the explosion and known that we couldn't go back there, taking my hand and leading me to the nurse's office and asking the nurse politely to call our baby sitter and ask her to pick us up. Mrs. Fudo seemed to have already known when she arrived, and had carried Mai back to the bus stop and lead me by the hand. We had lived with her since then.

I knew it was sheer stupidity on my part now. If Mai had cared for me that much back then, it wouldn't have changed as she grew older. I shouldn't have abandoned her back then. Looking back on it, I realized that it made no sense, and that it shouldn't have made any sense back then.

"You're there." I blinked and realized I was standing still in front of an off-white doorway, Wife talking through the headsets we had to transfer to, as she had to stay in the control room to guide us from there. I heard Wife tapping something on a keyboard, and the door's lock clicked. I tensed. _This is it._ I reached out to the door handle and grasped it. _The moment of truth._ I gripped, and turned the knob, the door swinging inwards. _Time to face up to what you've done. _The faint light from the hallway filtered into the room, and my eyes widened, my heart skipped a couple painful beats, my legs weakened, and I stumbled backwards until my back slammed into the opposite wall, hand over my heart. I was shaking, and the others barely spared me a glance before looking into the room and tensing, their forearms almost unconsciously flexing up to form right angles from their chests.

Mechanical arms and cuffs held her legs spread-eagled, facing the door, only a cloth covering her, a blanket underneath her, the rest of her completely and utterly exposed. I barely registered the cuff attached to a mechanical arm which held her wrist in the air, a needle stuck into the inside of her wrist. Crow was trembling with anger and Yusei went straight to the mechanical arm holding Mai's wrist in the air, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a slim case of tools, getting to work on dissembling it right away. Jack pulled me into the room, putting me just inside the door, which he pulled shut until there was only a slim crack between it and the frame, and he stilled, his sharp eyes watching the crack as he listened in the silence. _He's the lookout._ I thought mutely and blinked, moving towards the table my little sister lay on and lifting the blanket to cover her before bringing out my own screwdriver and setting to work on the cuffs that held her ankles in the air, placing her foot on the edge of the table as soon as it was free and turning to the next one. As I turned, I grimaced as I caught sight of Yusei grimly but carefully holding Mai's limp wrist in his hand as he drew the long, hair-like needle out of her wrist carefully and gradually. I turned to the cuff holding my little sister's right ankle, grimacing and trying to block the image from my mind, sticking the screwdriver in the one place where I knew I could find the catch. As it clicked open, Crow had had enough.

"**THOSE SONS OF *******!"** I nearly jumped and I spun around just in time to see Crow take a mighty swing at the first mechanical arm I had released Mai from. My eyes widened as Wife yelled in my ear.

"Crow, NO!" Jack and Yusei snapped their attention to the center of the room on Crow at my frantic yell. CRASH.

"**Intruder Alert. Intruder Alert. Case Red. Patient Escaping. Room 12534, East Section. Intruder Alert. Intruder Alert."** Crow froze, startled like a deer in the headlights. My heart went cold, and I started shaking again, my eyes widened.

"What did I tell you!" I yelled at him, and he looked at me with wide eyes as I scooped Mai into my arms after wrapping her up tightly in the blanket, Yusei having jerked the last of the needle out of her wrist at the siren's alert. "We need to leave! Now!" I yelled, and I ran for the door, Jack pushing it open with his shoulder when he saw where I was going, leading the way into the hallway. I rushed outside, looking both ways frantically and spotted Wife sprinting down our way, eyes wild. I could already hear the guards coming. She pointed down the hallway, away from herself, and I glanced down that way before looking back at her.

"You go that way, I'll hold them off here!" I nodded jerkily, trusting her, and spinning on my heel, wasting no time in running down the hallway, the others' footsteps pounding behind me.

* * *

_Wife was right._ Was my only thought as we burst through the door that had been at the end of the hallway to find ourselves outside near the parking lot where we had left our D-Wheels. Yusei and Crow paused momentarily in their stride, blinking and taking in their surroundings, Kleizer carrying on without a second look, his sister's head resting on his shoulder.

"Come on!" He shouted, his hair resembling a fireball thanks to his speed. "They're right behind you! We need to keep going!" I nodded jerkily and leaned into my front leg, pushing off from the ground and setting off with Yusei and Crow, managing to catch up with him just as the door behind us burst open, guards pouring out into the street, rifles and pistols held ready as they looked around. We were nearly there, and I could tell that running and carrying his sister was wearing Kleizer down. He mustn't have had this kind of exercise for a while. I was running right next to him, keeping an eye on him as the others ran ahead. We were nearly out of sight of the guards and under cover. _**Nearly** there!_

"Hey!" I gritted my teeth as one of the guards yelled. I glared at the street in front of me. _Great. They spotted us._

"Jack." I looked out of the corner of my eye, and saw that Kleizer had stopped. He was looking at me with a hard look in his eyes, his arms extended. I frowned. "Take her and get to the others." He ordered, and I held my arms out, confused but trying not to show it.

"What are you doing?" He looked at me with that hard, sharp look in his eyes again as he practically thrust his sister into my arms.

"Something I need to do." He said, facing the oncoming guards, glaring into their midst. "I'm going to right all the wrongs I've made." He gritted his teeth, and I nodded, turning to run to where the others were hiding. "-and Jack?" I paused and looked over my shoulder. Kleizer was looking at the wall next to him with a sad, soft look in his eyes. He looked over his shoulder at me, and I could see honesty in there as well. "Tell her I love her." My eyes widened in realization, but I was too late. He had already charged head-on into the swarm of guards with a vengeful battle cry. I looked after him for a couple seconds, his words resounding in my head.

_"I'm going to right all the wrongs I've made."_ It made sense now, and I felt a new sense of respect for him. I just hoped that it didn't come to that.

_"Tell her I love her."_ I frowned softly where I had last seen her brother. I nodded slowly.

"I will." I said quietly. "But you better get back to tell her yourself." I gave the spot where he last stood one last look and turned and ran.

* * *

"I'll carry her Jack!"

"You're still _weak_! I know you love her, but that's no reason to jeopardize her safety!" Crow opened his mouth, angry and ready to argue some more, sitting on his D-wheel, arms out and wanting to hold his loved one.

"You'll hold her at the hospital Crow." Yusei spoke, revving his engine to signify his urgency. There had been a bit of a confusion when I had run into the parking lot carrying Mai, Kleizer nowhere in sight. The guy didn't even have a D-wheel. Doubling up with Crow again would've been hard with Mai in front of him. Yusei had given me a look when I had told him that Kleizer had stayed behind to hold the guards off while we escaped. Crow sighed and let it go. We could all hear Kleizer yelling and the pained cries of the guards from here, and I settled onto my Wheel of Fortune, trying to find a way to steer and hold her on my lap at the same time. It wouldn't be easy, but I could do it.

"Lets go." Yusei kicked his D-wheel into ignition, and sped out of the garage Crow and I following, my free arm wrapped securely around Mai's waist, her head lolling limply back onto my shoulder. We sped away from the scene of the crime, the sun just starting to rise over the city's rooftops when I heard it in the distance. A gunshot, and Yusei and Crow looked anxiously at each other as I closed my eyes and sighed. My ears were sharp, and I could hear what they hadn't. The absence of yelling. I knew in my heart that it was over. I opened my eyes and looked ahead, glaring into the sunrise.

"I'll come back for you Kleizer. I swear I will."


	23. The Beginning and the End

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N: **I dedicate the first part of this epilogue to _Nemos_, an anoymonous reviewer who left some very heartfelt reviews, and who inspired me to write the first part of this chapter for her/him. I hope you'll enjoy. The rest of this story is dedicated to everyone who has happened across this story and come to love it, even if you haven't left your mark on the 'reviews' page. X) Out of all my stories, this is the one that has earned the most Story Alerts out of any of them, and at the moment, also has the most reviews. The amount of story alerts for this story truly amazed me, and to thank all of you, here's the final chapter to the story that you have all helped me to create.

_The Beginning and the End_

* * *

Being a body collector was a grim business, no matter who you were, I thought as I parked my Wheel of Fortune at the point where Kleizer and I had separated, scanning the battle field and searching for that familiar shine of red hair. Kleizer had done a good job. The ground was covered with the corpses of the guards who had chased us out of the building. My eyebrow twitched upwards when their body count accounted for all of them. All fifteen guards that had chased us were dead, and instinctually, I looked towards the middle of it all. _There._

The sun gleamed off of red hair, blowing slightly in the breeze, Kleizer lying still on the ground, his face peaceful as his chest moved slowly up and down, bullet wound bleeding freely in the right side of his chest, blood soaking the hair at his temple as if he'd been hit. _Wait!_ My eyes widened as I jumped to my feet, yanking my helmet off, watching his body like a hawk as his belly rose and fell slowly, gaps in between the breaths he'd take. _He's still alive!_ I realized, and I slammed my helmet down on my dueling screen in my haste as I scrambled out of my Wheel of Fortune to leap over the dead bodies to half-kneel by his side, unconsciously grabbing his arm and shaking it. His eyes opened blearily.

"Kleizer! Kleizer! It's me Jack!" My chest was tight with adrenaline and unvoiced words as he gave me a half-smile. "We need to get you to a hospital, now!" I said, impulsively trying to pull the redhead into a sitting position, almost not seeing him grimace when I did so.

"It's over Jack." I froze, almost shaking as I held a supporting hand on the middle of his back. I watched him as he spoke to the pavement he was sitting on, his head down. "There's no point in trying now. I can already see The Light." _No point in trying to save him._ My brain informed me. I looked at him with shocked and somewhat fearful eyes, his calm disarming as I grabbed at straws.

"What about your sister? What about Mai?" He gave a sad half-smile, his eyes content as his chin rested on his chest. He didn't seem to have enough energy to lift it, so I lifted it for him so that his head rested on my arm, which I had snaked around to support his shoulders. He looked at me with the same look as before.

"You'll tell her I love her, right?" I nodded, watching him with a worried crease between my eyebrows. He smiled, his eyes happy. _How can he be so happy when he's dying?_ I thought, amazed by him. "Then it's all good. Only…" He sighed, and I unconsciously gripped his shoulder a little tighter. "-I wish I had been able to apologize to Mrs. Fudo. She took such good care of us when we were little, and I repaid her kindness by doing drugs and running away." He sighed, more on his mind, shaking his head slightly as he frowned sadly at the sky, his voice getting fainter by the minute. "There are so many things I wish I could take back…" He trailed off unhappily, not saying any more. I bowed my head slightly, the understanding that he was going to pass no matter what I did about it weighing heavily on my mind.

"Mrs. Fudo was your and Mai's babysitter when you were young, wasn't she?" I asked, and he looked at me, nodded as much as he could, the effort sapping his strength. "Mai told us about her. She's Yusei's mom. Yusei Fudo." I said as if to clarify it. His eyes widened with hope.

"You know her?" I gave him an empty smile. _Not personally._ I thought, regret panging in my chest, and Yusei came to mind. He smiled happily, and it settled into contentment. "Could you possibly tell her that I'm sorry for everything I've done? Please." He said, averting his eyes and looking up at the early morning light again. We were in an area just off of the main street, and I could hear the hustle and bustle of everyday life beginning to stir just down the street by the Security Offices. It seemed to be world away. "Both of them, actually. Both Momma Fudo and Mai." He smiled slightly at the name as he whispered, as if it amused him. "And tell Mai I love her." I nodded silently, gulping back the tears that were threatening to spill. He smiled exhaustedly, seeming to know without looking. _He's leaving._ I thought, I knew with all of my body that it was true.

"You know?" He whispered, and I looked at his face as his eyes started to drift shut, his breath slowing. "Dying is beautiful. So…" he whispered as his eyes shut, smiling slightly. "…peaceful." A few moments of stillness passed, the sun silently warming up the space in between buildings where we were, a couple birds landing on the chain link fence, blocked off by bushes and trees on the other side, and greeted the sun with their songs. Kleizer's stomach moved no more with the absence of his breathing, and he was silent, motionless. I blinked, and a traitorous tear found it's way out of my eye as I held him close. It was as if nothing had happened, yet he was gone. I let out a shaky breath and swallowed back my tears.

"We'll never forget you Kleizer. You'll be a part of history, and one day I'll make sure that a statue is made of you, so that no one forgets you. I promise you that. You won't be forgotten." I held him like that for a couple more minutes, before begrudgingly relaxing with a sad sigh and taking my phone out of my back pocket as I flipped it open and dialed a number, putting it to my ear. They had to know about this.

"Hello, Ushio? There's something I need you to do…"

It's been a couple weeks now, since we rescued Mai and Kleizer died. She took the news pretty hard. Jack had gone back after the doctors at hospital had flushed out Mai's system and woken her up to reclaim his body. Aki was always by Yusei's side since he rarely left the hospital, and Jack drifted in and out, sometimes with Carly by his side, sometimes not. I stayed here no matter what, the doctors checking up on my injuries every now and then. Never in a million years would I ever let anything like what happened to her happen again. Speaking of which, we had called Mina and Ushio to the hospital about an hour after Mai had been sitting in her bed, recuperating- and told them about The Organization. There was now a gigantic lawsuit going on, and the S.S.O. were losing that battle, much to our satisfaction. They were also paying for Kleizer and Wife's funerals. Yes, she had died too, and it was a shock to our systems when we found out. She really had been willing to do anything, and we paid her our proper respects. I knew that Kleizer and her had been good friends at least.

When the time came for Kleizer's funeral, Mai had gotten a temporary leave from the hospital. Aki and Carly had gotten her a modest black dress to wear on this gray day, and I held her around the waist, letting her cry on my shoulder as the ceremony commenced. Jack had insisted that we all wear tuxes, or at least as close as we could get to it. So Yusei and I both wore black jeans and black shirts, and Yusei's mom had given him an old black business jacket of his father's to wear, and she currently stood by his side mopping her tears with an old black hanky as Aki leaned into his side, looking sad but unable to express the proper sorrow as she had never gotten to know Kleizer. Yusei's sadness was enough for her. Jack was in a similar situation, scowling grumpily down at Kleizer's tombstone while Carly tried and failed a few times to make him feel better. As for Mai and I… Kleizer was her beloved brother. She was the only one here besides Mrs. Fudo who knew him as well as she did. I had just gotten to know him, but he had made quite the impression on me, and having Mai crying into my shoulder seemed to unlock my own tears as I held her, even though I wasn't crying nearly as heavily as her.

Days passed and she was released from the hospital, system clean, flushed free of all the access drugs that had been pumped into her, body repaired from the abuse at the S.S.O just as Mina and Ushio won the lawsuit against the S.S.O. and all of the other abused women flooded the hospital, free at last. Last minute rehab centers were put up to help those who were traumatized, and help centers had a whole new section for the victims set aside, to help them get their lives set back on track. On the whole, a lot of good was coming out of a lot pain. Just like how the sky is darkest before dawn.

Months passed, and Mai was getting better. The seasons were passing to fall and she had been living with Mrs. Fudo as she healed from the loss of her dear brother. I walked with her every day as she visited the family grave to pay her respects to her parents and to hold a conversation with the raw hole in her heart where her brother had been. I was so proud of her, not having lost herself in her grief, remembering what was important even as she lamented. Mrs. Fudo and I were no strangers to each other as my feelings for Mai almost impossibly grew larger and stronger. Fall turned to winter, and winter to spring. Yusei and Aki and Jack and Carly were as sweet as lovebirds, and my heart was in my throat as I fiddled with the little velvet box I had saved up so much for in my pocket. I didn't want to jump the gun, but it was comforting in a way to know that Yusei had bought a little velvet box as well.

Mai and I sat under the sakura trees when time permitted, the little pink blossoms drifting down on gentle breezes as we sat and talked together, sometimes kissing. She knew I loved her, and she made me one of the happiest men in the world by loving me too. We had loved each other, felt something for each other ever since we first met, and the feeling had only grown over time. I did everything I could to make her happy, and she was healing, gradually, and I knew it would take time, but she was healing, and she was happy with me. I was happy when she was happy, so when we went to the tournament party Jack had dragged us all to, and we were standing in the courtyard garden of the fancy building the event was being held in, sakura blossoms drifting down on the wind, and she was laughing, with that happy glow in her eyes, and she gave me the courage to do what I had wanted to do since we had saved her. Her eyes widening as I went down on one knee, cameras immediately turning their lenses to us as I took the little velvet box out of my pocket, fiddling with it and biting my lip nervously before opening it and showing it to her.

"Mai, will you marry me?"

"Of course I will." I now knew what it sounded like when over 50 girls cooed simultaneously at the top of their lungs. Now, because of Mai, I **was** the happiest man in the world.

Every end has a beginning. Every dusk has a dawn. From pain comes strength, and from death comes life.

**Sequels are the 'Birth' series. 'Toriko', 'Hiroto' and 'Akito'. I hope you've enjoyed the story. 3**

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	24. Dojinshi

**Author's Note:**

Hey guys. I originally wrote something much better here (or at least I think I did, since it was past midnight at the time x_x) but the site went through a little hiccup and the info got deleted. DX (Inner Me: _NOOOO!_) XD

So basically, I was thinking of ways I could make this story better, since it's had the most reviews out of any and all of my stories, and I decided I'd try my hand at making a dojinshi out of it. Now this is my first time trying something like this, so it'd help if you didn't expect anything _too_ spectacular right off the bat. Hopefully, doing this will also make the plot better. I'll fix some continuity issues (like why is Mai so trusting of Crow after he saves her from falling off that fence when they first met? He's still a guy, and after everything she's been through, you'd think...well, yeah), and I'll put some duels in there too. XD I did get into dueling, and that's what Yugioh's all about anyways. XD

So, what'cha think?


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